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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELEN OF TROY by SARA TEASDALE SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND by THOMAS CAMPBELL THE WHITE WOMEN by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER THE NIGHTINGALE THAT WAS DROWNED by PHILIP AYRES |