Main Gateways
Where the path crosses the boundary
into an important precinct —
"made more sharp, more
vivid, more alive"
places of industry or craft
places of law and judgment
of civic life
dwelling places
of distinct groups, subcultures
that yet reach out
to the general populace
"It will be there,
it will be felt,
only if the crossing is marked"
"a literal gate, a bridge,
a passage between narrowly
separated buildings, an avenue
of trees, a gateway
through a building"
At the boundary
of some neighborhood
or building complex
"the crucial feeling
which this solid thing
must create
is the feeling of transition"
Open
these great gateways
that have always
been open
Mark every boundary
every place between
I say open the gates
that they may stand
open I say open
the gates.
Entrance Transition
And there are other boundaries
other crossings
other transitions
on a more intimate scale
"a more intimate spirit
appropriate to a house"
Pass now
by way of an "entry court"
"bend in the path"
"a long sheltered gallery
from which there is a view
into the distance"
Come in
to my house my
life I have come
this far into this
seclusion I would
offer to you too
I would lay it out
point it out starting
here in the courtyard
this bit of garden
where you may find
me leading you or
lingering, waiting
for others
the gate, the path
to some place that is ours, open
to everyone but not everyone’s
some place that holds
to a kind of courtesy
and welcome.
Tapestry of Light and Dark
Flood the entrances
and paths with light
but reserve some
spots for shadow We linger
in pools of light
but would steal away
upon occasioninto the adjacent darkness
"Much loved and much used
places": "window seats,
verandas, fireside
corners, trellised arbors"
The shadows flicker
among the varied
sources of light
to which we are drawn
And in this tapestry
of our homes, our
lives, our ideal that
has been stolen from us
that we have stolen from ourselves
and that I so
wish to return —
Look! Bronk
said it was only
the light, but Duncan
knew the uneven
was unbounded though
the hearth was at the center
I recall the great stove
with the coal room behind
the kitchen table by the window
looking out toward the garden
the sun room where the vines
curled up through the floor boards
and all of this is gone
it is gone
into a world of light
My companions
my lost ones
and those to whom
I would still cling
If this tapestry is life lived
light alternating
with great darkness I
call upon you all
never to abandon it
We hold to the house
we wander in error
from place to place for
"there is good reason to believe
that people need
a rich variety of settings
in their lives"
As we have dwelt there
as we have moved
through light and dark.
Short Passages
Generosity of movement Generosity of light
In the Circulation Realm
to which each building
contributes, a nested
system of realms
so ordered and named
In every building
office or dwelling place
public or private
We come, going
from here to there
through light, passing
bookcases, windows,
benches built
into the wall where
in the midst of things
What would make
this passage short,
animated, alive
to where we are going
from where we have come?
A corridor
"generous in shape"
devoted to our needs
and loved therefore
as much as any room.
Note: These poems are part of a sequence based on Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language. All passages in quotation are taken from those sections of the book that correspond to the titles of the poems.