Council Chambers

In this room of words

and wisdom and heat

this room where power

sits down with worry and debate,

in this place of decisions,

talk and argument,

laughter and solemn proclamations,

sometimes we all must stop and listen

to the silence between the sentences,

the moments when

we mere men and women

think of the brightly burning stars

that lift our heads and touch us

as our lives touch other lives

Laurence J. Sasso, Jr.

March 4, 2003