Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CANTILEVER BAR, by NATHALIA CRANE



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CANTILEVER BAR, by                    
First Line: Beside the red euphrates
Last Line: The cantilever bar.


Beside the red Euphrates,
Beside the reedy Nile,
We feasted with the mallet
And entertained the file.

The bulls of Nin we chiseled,
Oh, Bel and Balthazar,
But for the Theban pylons
The cantilever bar.

We gave the Sphynx a status,
Raised Pharos from our skids,
And with the nudes of Nubia
We posed the Pyramids.

We milked the buxom quarries
Of porphery and verd;
The marble saw us beckon,
Disrobed without a word.

'Twas maul and pawl and cable,
A kiss each parasang,
The drivers' whips caressing
The cantilever gang.

The thimble nudged the needle,
No more there is to tell,
But clean our gabardines are --
We slew not Jezebel.

We never mixed the mortar,
We never laid that wall,
Nor were we even present
To catalogue her fall.

But had we seen her totter,
That lovely Sidon witch,
We would have piled our cloutings
In any city ditch.

And had she landed lightly,
Oh, Bel and Balthazar,
Fame would have made her bookmark
The cantilever bar.





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