by Jill Christensen
Amidst the ruins
of ancient Greece
there are women cut
in stone:
Persephone, Aphrodite,
Athena and Artemis,
what is it I draw
from your maker’s
pagan belief?
That all men have searched
for the classical?
That all men have sought
to embody perfect love?
That you though mystic
and I
so mortal
might one day be akin?
For at the final
burnings
(so rich and deep in new ritual)
having wrapped
my braids in
shining ivy,
having sought
the eternal crown,
I shall stand
steadfast
and softly sculptured,
as noble as all the ancient
statues,
polished to opulent white,
having drawn from them
all their breathless
symbols,
having given the
idyllic dream, eternal life.
