[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 6018]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               SPRINGTIME

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise to salute the Springtime and 
the birth of Caroline Byrd Fatemi, great-granddaughter of the 
distinguished Senator from West Virginia.
  Last week, Senator Byrd took the floor to bring us glad tidings of 
spring and of Caroline's birth. Today, before we fly to the four 
corners of America, I would like to salute our beloved colleague and 
his progeny.
  Time and again, Senator Byrd has graced this chamber with the lessons 
of history and the sweet music of poetry. Last week he ushered in 
Springtime with a stanza from Algernon Charles Swinburne. Let me quote 
the same poet to welcome Caroline to the world:

     Where shall we find her, how shall we sing to her,
     Fold our hands round her knees, and cling?
     O that man's heart were as fire and could spring to her,
     Fire, or the strength of the streams that spring!

     For the stars and the winds are unto her
     As raiment, as songs of the harp-player;
     For the risen stars and the fallen cling to her,
     And the south-west wind and the west-wind sing.

     For winter's rains and ruins are over,
     And all the season of snows and sins;
     The days dividing lover and lover,
     The light that loses, the night that wins;
     And time remember'd is grief forgotten,
     And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
     And in green underwood and cover
     Blossom by blossom the Spring begins.

  Mr. President, the link between the elder Byrd and the younger 
symbolizes for me what our job here is all about: Looking forward every 
day, every month, every year to the eternal Spring that is America--and 
keeping faith with every generation of American.
  Whether we are working to improve education or save Social Security, 
we who are privileged to serve in the United States Senate can, by our 
actions, strengthen the bonds that unite our nation from generation to 
generation.
  As we strive to make the world a better place for Caroline and every 
child of her generation, let us follow the advice in Laurence Binyon's 
poem ``O World, be Nobler''--

     O World, be nobler, for her sake!
     If she but knew thee what thou art,
     What wrongs are borne, what deeds are done
     In thee, beneath thy daily sun,
     Know'st thou not that her tender heart
     For pain and very shame would break?
     O world, be nobler, for her sake!

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