NAMES IN THE CONCRETE

Names in the concrete — write them deep
Before it turns stone, before we leave
No one built this street alone
Names in the concrete, set in stone

Five in the morning, cement still gray
Crew boots printed where the curb would lay
Foreman held a nail from a broken frame
Said, “Before this dries, somebody write the names”
Not just mine where the cameras point
Write Miss Lee who fed every boy
Write old James with the borrowed drill
Write Maria working two jobs still
Write the driver bringing boards through rain
Write the quiet hands nobody names
Every clean wall has a hidden choir
Every finished roof has a thousand tired

One hand pours
One hand smooths
One dream stands
Because many moved

Names in the concrete — write them deep
Before it turns stone, before we leave
No one built this street alone
Names in the concrete, set in stone

Ribbon-cut morning, suits in a row
Speech had my name six times too bold
I stepped from the mic, took the paper apart
Read every worker from the very first mark
Somebody frowned when the schedule ran long
But erasure is quick when the story sounds strong
So I walked them outside to the southeast wall
Where forty-two names outlast us all
Fame is a spotlight with a narrow face
Legacy widens when you give it space
I don't want a statue staring alone
Give me a sidewalk full of names in stone

The building will forget our voices.
The photographs will fade.
But every child crossing this ground
will step over proof
that we were many.

Names in the concrete — write them deep
Long after we go, the ground will speak
No one built this street alone
Forty-two names, set in stone

Make room for one more.