Taking Flight: Building for the Future

rebar the concrete posts, spread two-by-fours,

close in the walls, cut doors and windows

to welcome teachers, students, and the light!

Here we will learn to draw beyond

the paper’s edge, to whirl with arms

outstretched, investigate

the tiny fruit fly or the planet Mars.

Here we will probe like humming birds

the nectar of books, look for landing places,

explore their myriad surfaces and colors,

the scent of their pages, in these quiet spaces.

We will debate and contemplate, plundering

authors for arguments, and thoughts will rub

against each other

till they sleek as polished stones.

Believe in these wide spaces! Know that here

ideas may drift like feathers, dive

like ospreys, be turned over and over as pebbles

are turned by herons along the shore.

We will browse, embark on books

intrepid as the Pilgrims on their ships,

glance up from time to time to scan

the inscrutable blank pages of the sky.

To build is to believe: dancers, scientists, dreamers, schemers,

poets, explorers, or even hornblowers

will flourish here, will learn

to listen to the silences between words, will hear

their own quiet heartbeat once the book is closed.

- Jo Bradley
  Former Prospect Sierra Elementary School Division Head