Building

Brick by brick the Masons builded

Till the highest cross was gilded

With the glory of the sun,

Till the noble task was done.

Step by step and one by one

Wall and rafter, roof and spire

Men were lifting ever higher,

Not in some mysterious way —

With the tasks of every day.

Architects may do their dreaming,

See their visioned turrets gleaming

High above them in the skies;

Yet the wisdom of the wise

Cannot make one roof arise —

Hearts must sing and hands must labor,

Man must work beside his neighbor,

Brick on brick and toil on toil

Building upward from the soil.

So we build a lodge or nation,

On the firmly fixed foundation

Of a flag or craft or creed;

But on top of that we need

Many a noble thought and deed,

Day by day and all the seven,

Building slowly up to heaven,

Till our lives the lives shall seem

Of the Master Builder's dream.

Douglas Malloch