There is a Brick in Harvard Yard

There is a brick in Harvard Yard

Put there by a man 

Forever unknown

A hardened man 

Who went to Harvard 

To earn a dollar to feed five children

Whose work

World leaders trod upon

And laureates, authors, and scientists

In his hands a man-stone placed

At cost of two and a half pennies

Laid gently in the ground in 1929

Brick following brick from 

North Cambridge

East of Fresh Pond

Three parts clay, one part sand

Fired by other men

In buildings made of same

There is a Brick in Harvard Yard

Put there by a man

On a Fall day in October

Whose five children 

Shoveled coal to fire bricks

To build firm ground for one more step

Upon a ground 

Upon a brick

A mind stands free of muddy truth.