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September the 11th, 2001, marked the 3rd time in history America had been attacked on her own soil. The first being
the Independence war, the second at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7th, and the 3rd, Sept. 11th, the World Trade Center. For each
one of those dates I have a special memory. In the War of Independence, my great-great-great Uncle Charles Carroll was the
last surviving signor of the Declaration of Independence. The Capital of the United States was built on our family land, and
sold by Daniel Carroll of Duddington to Washington, from the Rozier-Young Carroll families. My third child was born on Pearl
Harbor day, and she is the one who reminded me that love is the greatest gift of all. Sept. 11, 2001,
was the most difficult for us as we watched our Nation attacked by Terror. We lost two Carroll namesakes, Michael and
Peter Carroll, NYC firefighters, who never returned from the flames. Yet within that time frame we drew strength from our
faith in a sustaining G-d and prayed to him for the release of our relative Heather Mercer, who came home by the Grace of
God. This Poem is dedicated to these and all the survivors, and those killed that day. Winning the International Poet Award
for 2002 by Mary Carroll-Bower as follows:
THE TEARS REACHED HEAVEN
by Mary Carroll-Bower, Sept. 2001
Our children changed that day.
they suddenly lost their innocence,
and reality that war had touched our borders
came true.
The children carried jugs of water to load the trucks for victims,
the children brought their own money,
the children gave hope as their tears reached heaven.
No longer did we question in our minds,
"Where is God?"
For we knew the tears of the children were being seen by him,
the smoke had reached his nostrils,
and we knew it was time to pray and pray,
for the childrens tears had reached heaven.
We lost two of our family namesakes that day,
O'Carroll , along way from Tippery, Dougheregan,Prince George,
then one family member came home from captivity by the Taliban,
and again we found hope,
for the children's prayers had reached heaven!
copyright 2001 MCB
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