Bridge

A poem about a bridge

From the unpaved morning valley

half-turning, glance half-flung

I saw it

poised

between tiered granite

springing off the earth

transfixing the sky

one unbelieveable leap

Icarus revenged

challenge hurled and answered

concerto in bright steel

a single immutable there

truss, spar, strut and span

glistening in air

frozen stencil of a mind

one man’s radiant certainty

one man’s irreducible I think

and ruthless Therefore I am

implacable statement

So in what room conceived then

what engineer and where

and how sitting

with rolled-up cotton sleeves

fingers half-sloped and tapered

lifting his head to look

over his work

at the earth where it would stand

In what shack did he

supervise the construction

standing arms dangling

on what rock

From what elevations did he

know his bridge

what conversations with

riveters and steel men

as he watched

brushing a lock of carrot-coloured hair

away from his forehead