WASHINGTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was buried yesterday alongside slain brothers John and Robert at Arlington National Cemetery, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.

Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of an American political era — outside Kennedy's funeral in rainy Boston where he was eulogized by President Obama, and later in the day in humid, late-summer Washington.

With flags over the Capitol flying at half-staff, his hearse stopped outside the Senate where he served for 47 years. His widow, Vicki, embraced former staff members in the crowd.

Later, at a graveside enveloped in deepening darkness, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick offered sympathies to Kennedy relatives and "an extended family that must probably include most of America."

A squad of seven riflemen fired three volleys in a traditional military funeral ritual, and a bugler sounded taps.

Hours earlier, Obama had delivered the eulogy in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Boston, packed with mourners.

"He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow," Obama said.

As a member of the Senate, Kennedy was a "veritable force of nature," the president said. Those left behind to mourn "grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive" Obama said.

Before Obama's eulogy, Edward M. Kennedy Jr. and Patrick J. Kennedy offered memories of their father that brought both tears and laughter from the audience.

Ted Kennedy Jr., 47, who lost a leg to cancer when he was 12, recalled his father's strength and inspiration as he struggled with his physical handicap.

Patrick Kennedy, 42, an eight-term House member from Rhode Island, remembered how his father would sit by his bedside, applying a cold, wet towel to his forehead to provide relief from the pain of headaches induced by asthma medication. "He remained to me a magical figure," he said.

Earlier, the Rev. Mark R. Hession, who was friend and family priest to Edward and Vicki Kennedy on Cape Cod, delivered the homily. He connected the senator's commitment to social justice and the needs of the poor to Kennedy's own experience as part of "a vibrant and caring family" whose narrative "is woven throughout the history of the nation for the past half-century."

Hession said the choice of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for Kennedy's funeral Mass reflected the intersection between the senator's public and private lives. Kennedy came to the church regularly to pray for the recovery of his daughter Kara as she fought her own battle against cancer several years ago.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, and his wife, Irene, attended the memorial service. Inouye and Kennedy were elected to the Senate in 1962 and served together as allies for 47 years.

"It is difficult to say goodbye to a dear friend. However, I am consoled with the certainty that Ted Kennedy's spirit and message will continue to resonate in the Senate," Inouye said in a statement. "The solemn but joyful celebration of Ted's life reminded one and all that we should remember to help the poor, to heal the sick, to feed the hungry and to be compassionate with those who are less fortunate than us. I will do my best to keep Ted's spirit alive."

Kennedy's freshly excavated grave was on a gently sloping Virginia hillside, flanked by a pair of maple trees. His brother Robert, assassinated in 1968 while running for president, lies 100 feet away. It is another 100 feet to the eternal flame that has burned since 1963 for John F. Kennedy, president when he was assassinated.

The youngest brother died Tuesday at 77, a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. An oak cross, painted white, marked the head of his grave, and a flat marble footstone bore the inscription, "Edward Moore Kennedy 1932-2009."

McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, read from a letter from Kennedy to Pope Benedict XVI, hand-delivered earlier this year by Obama.

"I know that I have been an imperfect human being but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path," the dying senator wrote.

The Vatican responded with a letter that said "his Holiness prays that in the days ahead you may be sustained in faith and hope."

Rain beat down steadily as Kennedy's coffin was borne by a military honor guard into the Catholic church, and again when it was brought back out for the flight to Washington and the cemetery just across the Potomac River from Washington.

Hundreds lined nearby sidewalks yesterday, ignoring the rain, as the funeral procession passed.

"I said to myself this morning, 'No matter what the weather, I'm going, I don't care if I have to swim,' " said Lillian Bennett, 59, who added she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and determined to get as close as she could to the invitation-only funeral.

"The Mass of Christian burial weaves together memory and hope," said Hession, parish priest at the church in a working class neighborhood of Boston.

There was plenty of both in a two-hour service filled with references to Kennedy's political accomplishments and personal recollections of his private life. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and tenor Placido Domingo provided musical grace notes.

Kennedy's widow, Vicki, his sole surviving sibling, Jean, and Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, carefully arranged the cloth funeral pall atop the coffin.

Like others, Teddy Jr. touched on his father's legacy. "He answered Uncle Joe's call to patriotism, Uncle Jack's call to public service and Bobby's determination to seek a newer world. Unlike them, he lived to be a grandfather," he said.

Joseph Kennedy Jr. died in World War II, John F. Kennedy was the nation's 35th president when he was assassinated in 1963 and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was killed five years later.

A remarkable collection of people gathered inside the church, including former president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton; former president George W. Bush and his wife, Laura; former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn; and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. Other mourners included former Vice President Al Gore, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, a former Kennedy aide. Two Republican friends of Kennedy's, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, sat side by side.

Outside on the steps, huddled under large black umbrellas, stood the honorary pallbearers. They included Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., who, like Obama, owed his nomination for president in part to Kennedy's endorsement. Kerry had become devoted to Kennedy over the years and is now the state's senior senator after 25 years in Washington.