Walking Through Cranbrook
Give me paper; give me pen!
give me a monumental poem
as enduring as Saarinen’s fountain,
with Orpheus ascending.
When is the last time you heard
a poem in praise of strength
a poem in praise of valor?
bronze statues black as leather!
If I sat and gazed from a window
through potassium oxide glass,
from the second floor bedroom
behind a brick-work façade,
I would transcend the years
back to the time when my soul
was not a Taliban,
but was a student all enamored!
I would wander back and re-create
the ruined boathouse by the lake
which in desuetude still stands,
loyal guard to love long gone!
The Old Boathouse at Cranbrook
--
notes
On the grounds of Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Eliel Saarinen was the first resident architect.
These echoes of art re-program my mind...
