[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 74 (Friday, May 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S6200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              MOVED BY TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JOHN C. STENNIS

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, recently I received a letter from a Dr. 
Wayne M. Miller of Killeen, Texas. The letter was in reference to my 
recent eulogy for the late and beloved Senator John Cornelius Stennis.
  Dr. Miller wrote that he was deeply moved by the tribute, so much so 
that he sat down and composed a poem after hearing it. I call attention 
to the letter and to the poem enclosed with it because it demonstrates 
not only the sensitivity and talent of the writer, but also the power 
and the passion which words can evoke.
  In these days of often destructive, rude, and even dangerous 
rhetoric, let us stop and reflect on the tremendous power of our words.
  Such reflection may help those of us in public life and in the media 
to strive to use our voices to inspire rather than to enflame.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Dr. Wayne M. Miller's 
letter and poem be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  Killeen, TX,

                                                   April 27, 1995.
     U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd,
     Hart Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Byrd, when I tuned in to a C-Span telecast 
     last night, I caught the latter part of your eloquent tribute 
     to the late Senator Stennis. It was truly one of the greatest 
     speeches I have ever heard. To be sure, it had the two basic 
     ingredients of a great speech: substantive thinking, and 
     rhetorical skills to effectively express it.
       Although I am not a West Virginian, I have admired your 
     accomplishments and the stature of your leadership. I was 
     reared just eighty miles north of Wheeling, in a small town 
     of Harmony, Pennsylvania. After serving as chaplain in the 
     Air Force, I became a field director for American Red Cross--
     and am now retired with that organization. For the past 
     sixteen years I have been teaching composition and rhetoric 
     at Central Texas College.
       Would it be possible to have a copy of your outstanding 
     speech? I would be ever so grateful!
       I am so happy that we still have statesmen of your caliber 
     in our nation's capital. I am enclosing a poem which I wrote 
     after listening to you on television. It reflects, in some 
     small measure, my responsiveness to your deeply, moving 
     words.
           Respectfully,
                                                  Wayne M. Miller.
       Enclosure.

     To the Honorable Mr. Byrd, Distinguished U.S. Senator from 
         the State of West Virginia, after hearing the stirring 
         tribute delivered on the floor of Congress for the late 
         Senator John Stennis of Mississippi (1901-1995):

     Your well selected words, like highly polished marble
     (Uniquely Mr. Byrd's!)
     Were fitted in a pyramid of architectural marvel--
     Arousing such a sentiment in the shaping of your thoughts
     Keen emotions were unharnessed from what common birth allots
     And, untouted, undergirds
     The daily warp and woof of our fabric of existence.

     You talked about our too brief pilgrimage,
     And you pricked our unsuspecting Achilles Heel
     When you sharpened our awareness of fragility
     That stamps the mold of our mortality--
     And your sobering reflection of the little bird
     That fluttered through the crack from the raging storm
     Into the blinding light of the banquet hall,
     And then, so very soon, fluttered out again--
     Demonstrated our fitful wandering,
     Our groping sightlessness, our straining stammering,
     Our hurried exit from the ever-blinding light
     Of the babbling banquet hall and ``much ado about nothing.''

     You addressed so poignantly the human predicament
     In the never ending journey ``east of Eden''--
     Never ending, that is,
     Until that special day of reckoning
     When all our shattered dreams, our broken vows . . .
     Will have their consummation
     In all-glorious transformation
     From the ugly to the beautiful
     And the painful to the joyful
     Where there will be no night,
     No parting and no sorrow.

     You led us like thirsting sheep
     To the oasis of our being--
     The wells of spiritual refreshment
     Where first we saw the mirroring of our impoverished selves
     And then experienced the waters that revive us
     And show us the way of day.

     You showed us what we are--
     And what we can become
     In the ``long journey into night''
     While we suffer in our little rooms,
     Waiting for the fateful end--
     To be transposed by the Great Composer
     From our dischords into harmonies,
     Rejoicing with the Children of the Light.
                                            Wayne Meredith Miller,
                                1995 Nominee for Poet of the Year.

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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