EXTRACTS from the poem that Liz Lochhead, Scotland's Makar, wrote for the centenary of the opening of the great architect's building for Glasgow School of Art, December, 2009.

from STANZAS FOR CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

I

'It is but a plain building that is required'.

North light, set dimensions for studios, that budget inspired

In no way constrained you. Dear Ghost, Dear Genius,

A plain wonder of a building's what you gave to us.

Volume, light, line, astonishing rhythms of space,

Guts, harmony, surprises, seemliness, a great place

To work in, learn in, live in, take for granted.

Much more than they ever knew they wanted

Was what you gave Fra Newbery, the Governors, the World, the Future -

Changing for ever the possibilities of architecture.

A prime modernist squarely in the Scotch Baronial tradition

And proud of it! Definitively beyond definition.

Your details delight us endlessly with their endless variation - Always decorated construction, never constructed decoration.

II

'Art is the flower,' you said, 'Life is the green leaf'.

Time is the judge. Time is the thief.