| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Red Bridge | | By Skipwith Cannéll |
| | From “Monoliths”
THE ARCHES of the red bridge | |
| Are stronger than ever: | |
| The arches of the scarlet bridge | |
| Are of rough, bleak stone. | |
| |
| Why should such massive arches be the span | 5 |
| From cloud to tenuous cloud? . . . . | |
| Let us not seek omens in the guts | |
| Of newly slain fowls; | |
| Leaving such play to the children, | |
| Let us pluck wild swans | 10 |
| From under the moon; | |
| Or, challenging strong, terrible men, | |
| Let us slay them and seek truth | |
| In their smoking entrails. | |
| |
| Let us fling runners | 15 |
| Across the red bridge, | |
| Deep-lunged runners who will return to us | |
| With tidings of the far countries | |
| And the strange seas! . . . . | |
| There be many terrible men | 20 |
| Going out upon the bridge, | |
| Through the little door | |
| That is by the steps from the river. | | | | |
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