Scottish Parliament

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT 

The Spaniard upturned the boats,

Heaving them over with his imagination,

Manhandling them with elegant precision,

To capsize our narrow expectations,

Of function, and of form;

Then wandering through the brightness

Of his mind, probing for a place,

Between the people and the land,

He conjured this uncommon space,

Shaping it with sculpted beams 

To vault the weighty Scottish sky,

And channel its inclining light

Across repeating echoes,

Across the granite and the oak,

Across the concrete and the steel,

Each surface holding his attention,

Disturbing his sleep,

Until his wakened dreams took shape,

Beyond confinement, escaping 

The formality of dullness,

The chains of common sense,

To look in upon our land,

To see what we cannot,

Telling our story;

For this is more than just a building,

It is a poem for a nation,

Beyond the finite grasp of humankind,

Abstracting the geometry of thought,

It challenges us to think

Far beyond those who judge

With an accountant’s eye;

For this is a place of liberty,

Of wisdom of the mind,

So treat it with respect,

For we are all,

Including him,

But passers

By.