TO LINCOLN-SUDBURY

On the Occasion of its 40th Anniversary

Here,
      in Sudbury,
                 on this forgotten farmer's field,
a vision took shape,
                           rock
                  wedged to rock
                               in the stonewall of
                               common dreams.

No "City Upon a Hill," no Revolution
                     in this lost pasture of your past,
           just a schoolhouse
that neighbors built,
                           a place to learn, to care,
         
          to pursue with passion every truth
                  hidden in the universe
as if it mattered.

On this day,
             in this community of learners,
                             where miracles
                                               have been reported,
     and battles as great as "the Concord fight"
                             are won each day,

we pause
         to thank our heroes,
                  who cleared this field,
                  who carried these stones,
                  who piled them one upon another,

and bounded for us a tradition
              as solid as history, and as enduring
        as memory allows.
   
1996


                 
All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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