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POEM OF THE MONTH, January 2006 |
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Written by Leibel Bergman
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Saturday, 31 December 2005 |
Bridge over the Royal Gorge
Pity the plutocrat in chauffered car
Who rides upon that band of burnished steel,
And can but give a transient's second glance
To that cut gorge that stretches under far.
What can he of its spacious splendor feel,
How can he know adventurous romance,
But pickled in his pomp he glides and gloats,
Yet naught of beauty or of wonder notes.
Then envy us, the horde of penniless,
Who throng the box-car as it drags below,
Who ride upon the very gorge's bed,
Who see the beauty and the lush caress
Of sun on bleeding rock, of sky on snow,
Of nature's grandeur stretching far ahead.
The bridge above no sordid highway spans,
But, silver-set, is angel's path, not man's.
New York, 1937
from I Cannot See Their Faces & Keep Silent, Prometheus Press, St Paul, 1946 |
