A Nations Mourns - a tribute and reflection: a call to citizens offered the day after

I mourn the loss of Liberty Torn from Eagle’s mighty grasp

Held secure our boundaries of this our Promised Land.

I mourn the loss of humanity Dashed in one fell swoop

To watch our Spirit smote by evil billow up in smoke

?What hatred minds must harbor, to bring their ships crashing down? On what milk were they weaned? That love of fellow beings

Never coursed through their veins.

?I mourn the loss of innocence – of others’ lives and of my self For in this moment of disaster, I sense my own remorse.

?For what I have called security has come at someone else’s expense What I value, has a cost oft paid with others’ lives

?Now I must face the Nation and the World And determine what price am I to pay

To restore my Freedom and Liberty if hope is not to fail.

For Hope will always rise above the ashes of despair A hope borne on a Prayer that carries o’er the world

That out of grief and mourning a new promise will appear

?A Promise of God’s presence among all peoples For Goodness and Compassion to prevail

So Peace may Dawn and reign supreme for all eternity. Let us pray!

Ralph Singh, Gobind Sadan, Syracuse, NY 9-12-01