I T T A K E S T H E M I N D O F T H E B E H O L D E R
wondering
imagining
caring how things are
and might be
It takes circumstances and promise and
Companionable surroundings
That is to say it takes being alert among things
Standing beside them
Moving Among them
Being enfolded
Discovering positions in a larger pattern
Choosing among paths and vantage points
Investing attention
It takes events
Everyday and momentous
Spontaneous and contrived
which fill in the spaces between and bring them to life
which engage the senses and prompt the mind.
Magic rings of silence
Sounds that touch the nerves of being, echo and spur
recollections.
The flows of social action
It takes marking the things that surround us in ways that
call out and recall events that take place.
Inscribing thought in matter
Tracing the acts of conception and construction
Embedding ornament that intrigues and offers to narrate
Reflecting the joy of seasons and of ritualized time.
Forging libraries of aspiration
Indexing paths through the repository of the city.
It takes Companions
Faces that challenge
Faces that confirm
Faces that dance
The many great faces that help to bring places into being.
And Yes, the face of the unfamiliar.
-Donlyn Lyndon
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