Tower (April 2002)

In the mid 1880s

The years of my grandparents’ childhoods,

I come across this Heating Plant, a building and its tower.

Looking over the points of this vanished building 

A deep seated memory or maybe an instinct,  

Connects in this long ago photo.

Past, history, family lost

Only half forgotten, more than half remembered

I stray into a time

when straight forward and sturdy cubes,

Link, like the solid brick shoulders of the lower level,

Each in it proper place, at an established distance.

A time I imagine,

when a well-supported second story

Offers graceful curves and windowed arches.

Releasing the eyes and suggesting (if only a narrow prospect) sunlight.

Fixed as I am 

On the initial levels 

the honest purpose, 

the composed angles,

the peaceful sheltering roof,

Wide, calm and unmixed, 

I hardly notice,

The tower making its way off 

Into the undefined sky. 

The tower, totally based in the lumbering building, 

it stretches to surpass.

Yet, offering, without the possibilities of windows, an unsurpassed view