Willard Wattles. The Builder. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

The Builder

By Willard Wattles


From “On the Road” SMOOTHING a cypress beam
With a scarred hand
I saw a carpenter
In a far land.

Down past the flat roofs	5
Poured the white sun;
But still he bent his back,
The patient one.

And I paused surprised
In that queer place	10
To find an old man
With a haunting face.

“Who art thou, carpenter
Of the bowed head;
And what buildest thou?”	15
“Heaven,” he said.