Deny me not this fleeting moment, forged form pain in workday spent!
Deny me not the chance to grasp this truth in passing as it’s rent
from in the flagging husks of time where captured souls of labour fall.
Embrace my soul in words unspoken that from their pallid ashes call
the clarity of a hopeful love, the danger in the risen beam,
the tensiled courage plans to build a nation’s growing dream.
What strength imbibes these few of honor?
Who engineers each step they take?
Where do they rest their inner spirit
when all is done for finished sake?
Long past have these ennobled men graced our living spirits’ truth!
Their iron will and honesty, left in structures as their proof!
Photographs – United States Public Domain
Prompt from dVerse Poet’s Pub (https://dversepoets.com/) 17-Jan-2017
Write in consideration of an artisan or wright, for example a weaver, thatcher, wheelwright or carpenter. I was drawn to these old images of the brave men who built so many of the engineering feats of the world.
jaybluepoems 
I feel the weight of their toil in this… and so many lives lost in those great formations we admire
Thanks – and to think of the limited technology they did these things with. Truly brains and brawn and much pride.
What a lovely tribute to those men and the legacy they leave us with ~
I read this one aloud and it is delightful to the ear ~
Thanks Grace – This one does resonate well when read with a strong and stern voice.
Steel workers are indeed craftsmen and brave souls as well. Very good verse and a great reminder of their legacy that we all inherit.
Oh, Jay. This is a wonderful tribute, well wrought. And you have captured the poet’s style perfectly.
Thank you – I love this style of poetry!
Nice rhyme and meter.
Thanks
As I read your poem, Jay, my mind’s eye was filled with that black and white photograph of steelworkers eating their lunch high up on a skyscraper. Most people who live in cities are so used to seeing these marvels of engineering they forget the men who built them, working hard every day in dangerous situations, risking their limbs and lives, The first line grabs the reader: I love how you have used the word ‘forged’ here. I also like the use of questions in the second stanza.and that powerful rhyming couplet. Thanks for linking up.
Thank you
You’re more than welcome!
This piece is a blast to the past!! There’s so much history and there are busy voices and noises already playing in my head. Wonderful!
It’s interesting to think of what the daily life, sights and sounds must have been for these guys… Thanks
True. If only we have time machines… 🙂
What I really feel here a most is the pride of work well done… maybe forgetting the pride in working is what plagues us most today… maybe that is what we need to understand how to get back.
Thanks Bjorn – yes, I agree. We do need to find that pride in our ingenuity and hard work again.
The halcyon days before Health and Safety….or were they crazy and dangerous days?…as you so beautifully note, their stories, these men ( and women?) are witnessed by the buildings they left…and a few untold I wager.