The Wall

Sometime ago while working in Pittsburgh, I would admire the architecture of the old buildings of yore. Walking through the beautiful Carnegie Library on the north side of Pittsburgh though, I could not help but feel a deep sense of darkness.  

Once so proudly utilized, it was now a relic of the past.Walking down the steps, I strolled over the walkway engaged by more architectural artistry.

 "The reading Blacksmith", the statue is called. A gift from Carnegie to the people in honor of one Colonel Anderson, a benefactor of his. On the plaque, Col. Anderson was praised as the "founder of free libraries in western Pennsylvania". Sitting down while pondering this, I noticed up on the corner of the building behind (the backside of the Buhl Planetarium) an inscription from Psalm 19 hidden behind trees and overgrowth (not reflected in this picture). It read:

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Day unto day uttereth speech,

and night unto night sheweth knowledge."

As I began to consider the implications, I sat down. Hidden on the backside of the planetarium and obscured by foliage were words once bright in that very building, so much so they engraved it in stone.  Now I knew, it was no longer taught. The universe explored in the old Buhl Planetarium was now simply a product of nature, they say. Moved, I scribbled down a little poem:

You sit at his feet, this teacher of old,

his thoughts once bright now seldom told.

You walk the halls and peer into the rooms,

His truth forgotten, you see only gloom.

Down the steps, across the lane,

I discover His truth does remain

I gaze above, my eyes then fall,

Once inscribed on minds,

Now only on the Wall

Along with other miscellaneous notices attached to the statue wall, I posted my little poem. "Too expensive to remove," I thought, "so they just hide it with the nature they no longer attribute to God." Returning back in a few days, I noticed my poem had been torn down and construction had started on "The Wall". In a few weeks the inscription had been replaced by glass.

As I sadly walked away that day, I could not help but think of another passage from the book of Psalms, just five chapters before the lost inscription--

The fool hath said in his heart,'There is no God.'