[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S7306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        TRIBUTE TO SERGEANT JOHN H. MORENO AND ALL FALLEN HEROES

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, last month I attended the dedication of the 
Massachusetts Vietnam War Memorial in Worcester, MA where I joined my 
fellow veterans and their families to memorialize the 1,537 heroes from 
Massachusetts who gave their lives in Vietnam.
  During the ceremony, I was passed a copy of a poem Mrs. Eileen Moreno 
wrote in honor of her son, Sergeant John H. Moreno, whose name graces 
the Place of Names in Worcester. John Moreno, who grew up in Brookline, 
loved baseball and the Red Sox, and planned to attend art school so 
that he could teach art at an elementary school, was like so many brave 
young men and women who gave so much to their families, communities, 
and country.
  With her compelling tribute to her son, Mrs. Moreno reminds us all of 
the high price of freedom, a price paid both by the soldiers who went 
thousands of miles away to protect our Nation and the families who 
remember their loved ones. I thank her for passing along these words of 
tribute and respectfully ask unanimous consent to print her poem, 
``Memorium--Elegy for a Son,'' in the Record so that others may read 
her beautiful words.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       Memorium--Elegy for a Son

     Yes, we still grieve.
     In the stillness of the night
     Echos the silent primal howl
     of rage and refusal to believe.

     In private moments of the day to day
     We weep our quiet tears;
     Sorrow does not lessen with the
     passage of the years.

     Oh, yes we weep and hide our
     desolation with words like duty,
     gallantry and pride.

     Still we cry.

     For the bright, sweet child who was,
     We cry.

     For the valiant man he became,
     We cry.

     We grieve.
     With dry and sighting eyes

     We weep tears that can't relieve.
     For his loneliness, his fear, his pain
     Knowing our aching, empty arms
     Cannot hold him close again,
     We cry.

     But for the solace that it gives,
     In the love he left for us in our care
     And in his memory we'll forever share
     Still he lives--Eternity is his legacy.

     

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