Building
I’ve driven by this space before,
And scanned it with careless eyes: it held
a building like any other--
bricks and doors and windows
opaque to the disinterested gaze
and meaningless until it was
brought to earth and built again.
So it is with this new place,
The casual passer-by might not know
the name, its function, its namesake:
Charles Houston, a man of law, a teacher,
bearer of august honors;
a school at Harvard, a professorship,
a place in history.
This foundation is like his work—
a solid base for this building,
the living that surrounds,
and is nourished by it,
It fills a need, a gap, a city block.
It is a rock for the community,
that stands in its shadow.
Academic brilliance is for the few;
honors and history are elusive.
but this community belongs to us.
Home is something we all should know.
Family, friends, neighbors are the foundation
that holds us safe and strong.
This place grounds us.
Charles Houston would be proud.
