Memorial Service for British Victims
of September 11 Terrorist Attacks -- CSPAN Broadcast

On November 29, 2001 at Westminster Abbey there was a Memorial Service for the British Victims of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks. It was broadcast on the BBC as well as C-Span in the U.S. It was attended by Queen Elizabeth, Former President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The ceremony lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes and included the reading of two poems by Dame Judi Dench.

The first poem was Remember by Christina Rossetti:

Remember me when I am gone away,
   Gone far away into the silent land;
   When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
   You tell me of our future that you planned:
   Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
   And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
   For if the darkness and corruption leave
   A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
   Than that you should remember and be sad.

The second was Time is Too Short by Henry Van Dyke:

Time is too short for those who wait.
too swift for those who fear.
too long for those who grieve.
too short for those who rejoice.
But for those who love,
Time is eternity.

Coincidentally someone unaffiliated with this program thought that this second poem was appropriate to commemorate this event and made this needlepoint to illustrate the point.

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