[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 132 (Thursday, October 4, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S10284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             A SPECIAL POEM

 Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to share a special poem 
with my colleagues. Ethel A. Smith is a friend and poet from the city 
of Baltimore. She is a former activist, who wrote poems for various 
Baltimore newsletters. She is now 93 years old and continues to write 
poems. She wrote the following poem to express how moved she was by the 
tragic events of September 11, 2001. Like so many Americans, she is 
drawing on her strong faith, family, and community to help at this 
difficult time.
  I ask that the poem be printed in the Record.
  The poem follows:

                            Turn Back to God

                            (By Ethel Smith)

     Turn back
     Turn back
     To God
     Dear friends
     He will not turn you away.

     Come back
     Come back
     To God
     Everyone
     We have wandered to far away.
     Then fall on your knees and pray.

     Come back
     Come back
     To the church of your choice
     Then ask that Faith take sway.

     Oh! Come back
     Come back
     Come back
     Dear friends
     Let not your prayers e'er cease.

     Come back
     Come back
     To God
     Everyone
     To pray for our country and peace.

     Then while you are praying for God's blessings
     On our land that we love so true
     Let us pray and ask God
     For his blessings
     On other lands
     Caught in this war too.

     We also pray
     Dear Father
     For the thousands that have lost their life
     and lie beneath all the rubble
     While their families await in strife.

     Have mercy on each and every one of us
     Dear Father
     As the suffering continues from the terrorist attack
     on September 11, 2001.

     Amen.

                          ____________________