A Tribute to John McAvoy

For John McAvoy, FDNY

His name and mine were both the same.
His life heroic, mine was tame.
We looked the same, but never met
until he died, and yet-
somehow we're related, I am sure,
across a continent bloodlines endure.

It seems a shame it takes a death
to make us treasure every breath,
or crumbling towers to explain
how man invents new forms of pain.
How can we honor this quiet hero
or build a shrine to mark ground zero?

For me I'll honor him in my small way
By bearing his name 'til my last day.

John M McAvoy

Written by John M McAvoy when he learned that someone with his name had perished at the WTC on Sept 11, 2001