[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S13937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WHISPERS OF LIBERTY

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I would like to take a minute to bring to 
the attention of this great body the words of Rachel Bennett. Rachel is 
a 13-year old constituent who has written ``Whispers of Liberty,'' a 
moving poem about the events of September 11. These terrorist attacks 
had a profoundly sobering effect on most of the world. As Americans we 
were forcefully reminded of the ideals and principles which unite us as 
a nation. I have read and heard many explain the significance and 
aftermath of September 11, but few have done so as well as Rachel. She 
poignantly reminds us of the dreams that were shattered by the 
terrorists, while at the same time she reminds us of the values and 
ideas that have rallied Americans to help one another deal with these 
tragedies. I would like to read this poem for the record:

                          Whispers of Liberty

                          (By Rachel Bennett)

     How could a moment
     So change everything?
     A speechless nation
     Cried out in despair
     In unison as one.
     How could in a moment
     So many lives be put out,
     Like a field of flowers
     Closing in the mid of summer
     Never to bloom again?
     And in that moment,
     How many chances
     Of being a grandfather,
     A husband, a mother
     Of knowing the joys
     Of life and love
     Be gone?
     Like a candle
     Doused with tears of despair,
     Our nation wept
     For the twin brothers
     Who know lie in a
     Silent reverie
     As two lions
     Suddenly tamed
     A ghastly graveyard
     Of pride and greatness.
     Yet buried within
     The solid and proud
     Red, white, and blue
     Of American pride.
     A stoic symbol
     Of freedom and unity
     In a world
     Of stricken terror.
     Its red, the blood of
     The innocent whose
     Lives were stolen from them;
     Its white,
     Purity and strength;
     And its blue, the melancholy tears
     Of sadness.
     These bands of red
     And white
     Bring us together
     As one.
     A single
     Voice declaring freedom
     And a fearless life
     For all the world.
     Strength resonating
     From the richness
     Of the colors
     Bind us together
     In a single dance
     Of peace and
     A single whispered word--
     Liberty.

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