Smoothing a cypress beam
With a scarred hand,
I saw a carpenter
In a far land.

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

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

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