356 COMMERCIAL STREET (the Flagship)

by Carol Noyes, Library Trustee Written for and read at the Groundbreaking, November 13, 2003

They call you a construction site...

Though once you were consecrated

You will be whole again...

Born anew into the holy house of books

Sacred Space, for those who seek solitude

Communion Space, for those who share the love...

Of the written word

The record of history

Touch of fine paper

Weight of the bound bookword

Our children will be harboured by the “Rose Dorothea”

Beneath her sails they will enjoy storytimes

Some may learn to write their first poems

Others will sailaway on the internet

We will sail on into the 21st century

in The Flagship

of the

Massachusetts Library System

With room to grow

Space to breathe

and

Light to find our way