Build a library
where 7,000 books become 100,000,
where children with Teddy bears listen to stories
until they fall asleep,
and teens study late into the evening,
cell phones left on vibrate—
where neighbors meet
to hear a famous author speak,
or a musician play guitar.

Build a library
where literacy is a free gift,
where all languages are appreciated,
where your child can hear a story in Mandarin,
and then again in English—
where people learn to read,
and take home piles of books
in bags and backpacks and boxes.

Build a library
where computers and printers
hum and thrum,
where the internet is a wide open highway,
free for all to travel—
where people can print out job applications,
or a poem,
or a chapter of their next great novel.

Build a library,
where paintings hang in a gallery
and local artists are honored,
where a bronze tree
holds books and letters and numbers
in its boughs,
where over the fireplace,
the sculpted pages of a book seem to take flight.

Build a library
and paint it the colors of a mesa at sunset—
give its roof a patina of aqua sea glass.
Fill it with chairs and tables,
with lamps that shine like moons,
and a fireplace to read by
on cold winter mornings.

Build a library
where the librarians smile
and say hello,
because they know you and your kids,
and maybe a couple of them
even remember what you looked like
back in 1993.

Build a new library for Benicia, and so we did—
twenty five years later,
the beating heart of our community.

Johanna Ely is Benicia’s sixth poet laureate. The above poem was written in commemoration of the Benicia Public Library’s 25th anniversary at its present L Street location and was read during the birthday celebration Saturday.

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