An Ode to Bricks
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. original verse poetry .. and macro photos .
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An Ode to Bricks
When the earth was young and oceans ruled,
by cloudveil and aetheric shine bejeweled
below the surface, through the mud and clay
burrowed harsh crustaceans to cavort
along the future wends and winding way
of what was to become enduring fort
and lasting monolith, and humble home;
fitting monuments of hardy stone
to shelter beings who in endless roam
explore the lurching surfaces alone.
Silica, alumina, and lime;
and iron oxide, and magnesia
compressed, and by sacred fire blessed
become the bricks who weather storm of time.
By the gaze of master architects,
by the vision of the gifted seers
these were set, and mortared, concrete made
the blueprint masterful to house compeers
who sat to contemplate —
the legacy, the fate —
the odyssey, the path —
of humankind, the wrath
of elements — the eye
of earth-encomp'sing sky:
the dictates, the demands
of majestic unseen hands
and the power of the heart.
Here is our homely art;
in scars and rainmade crevices,
in glaze, reflective surfaces,
in pits and smoother seams.
Bricks weather all the beams
of sunny centuries
a-sailing through the cosmos
on earthern vessel, thirdmost
to the prow of solar system;
with rough edges aglisten
by the glory of exertion
made enduring by adventure.
Original photos and writing by Daniel Pendergraft
and published on-chain on April 19, 2020.
