THEY built rosy castles, And big, winged bulls, And red-robed wizards Worked miracles, When the kings rode hunting With javelin and bow Down the road to Nineveh A long time ago! They sat on their saddles As good men sit, Long in the stirrup, Light on the bit, Their proud lips a-curling, Their crimped beards just so, Down the road to Nineveh A long time ago! And what did they ride for? Great beasts of stress Lithe and tremendous— Lions! no less! The big black-maned beauties That prowled to and fro Down the road to Nineveh A long time ago! For why should we doubt it? Still does each chief Fill them with arrows— In bas-relief, And fine rough-and-tumbles The grim carvings show Down the road to Nineveh A long time ago! Then hear us, O Nimrod, That we may find Heart such as theirs was (Jumps still are blind); Send cubs stout as lions, The sort they laid low Down the road to Nineveh A long time ago! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BREAKFAST by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON TO THE BOY by ELIZABETH CLEMENTINE DODGE KINNEY MISGIVINGS (1860) by HERMAN MELVILLE AGAMEMNON: WELCOME TO AGAMEMNON by AESCHYLUS ROMEO AND JULIET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |