Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BUILDER by WILLARD WATTLES

First Line: SMOOTHING A CYPRESS BEAM
Last Line: "HEAVEN,"" HE SAID."
Subject(s): BUILDINGS & BUILDERS; CARPENTERS; CHRISTMAS; HEAVEN; NATIVITY, THE; PARADISE;
SMOOTHING a cypress beam
With a scarred hand,
I saw a carpenter
In a far land.

Down past the flat roofs
Poured the white sun;
But still he bent his back,
The patient one.

And I paused surprised
In that queer place
To find an old man
With a haunting face.

"Who art thou, carpenter,
Of the bowed head;
And what buildest thou?"
"Heaven," he said.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net