Brattle Street Elegy: Falling in Immediate Love

I first visited Longfellow Park in 1994 when I was investigating colleges, and I immediately fell in love . . . in love with the architectural symbolism of the building, like the tiered, round window in the chapel that seemed at times to me like a depiction of the three degrees of glory or like the scope of a rifle suggesting the need to stay on target and keep the goal in our sights, a window that simultaneously lets in light and yet doesn’t clearly display all that is on the other side; in love with the unique faith, personal conviction, expressiveness, humor, optimism, and testimony of the members who met there; in love with the rich history of the place itself, its conduciveness to meditation, and its proximity to the Charles. 

Spending four years in its hallowed halls learning, growing, and communing was a blessing, a privilege. I, too, mourn the loss.