Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, KINGS AND CUBBING, by PATRICK REGINALD CHALMERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

KINGS AND CUBBING, by                    
First Line: They built rosy castles, / and big, winged bulls
Last Line: A long time ago!
Subject(s): Animals; Hunting; Lions; Hunters


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!





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