Learning to See ~

Didn't our visionaries
say that change could happen
if beauty prevailed
and went on to erect edifices
to inspire us, pride ourselves in—
uplifts in stone
reminding us of lands left behind,
faces Roman, Gothic, Florentine, Doric,
that have long stood looking at us
from churches, lodging places,
banks and Court House—
and, let it be said,
from that one plain structure,
its base elevated on lawns
where North Street joins Main,
a shrine of sorts not a business place,
the lines of which at every passing
taught our untrained eyes
lessons in harmony, balance and order,
schooling us in classic forms,

making beauty tangible,

a work of art that ennobled us,
instilling pride in self and city 
merely by being there to see
and speaking to us, silently.

What was it our eyes were seeing?
Wasn't it what others felt
when looking at the ancient Parthenon 
or an Acropolis on a hill?