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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DIANA OF THE GARDEN by NATHALIA CRANE

First Line: I WAS YOUR SAINT-GAUDENS GODDESS
Last Line: LOOSED WHEN THE TOWER FALLS.

I was your Saint-Gaudens goddess,
High o'er the tower stair,
Topping the dawn's campanile --
Dian' of Mad'son Square.

Out of a Roman arena
Rigged I this later fane,
Fitted my rites to a people,
Posed as a weather-vane.

Now comes your turbaned appraiser,
Bent on a barracoon,
Over the glade where Diana
Drew on the three-ringed moon,

Marking the walls of my midways --
Not with love's alphabet --
Scorning my bow and my arrow,
Lack of a pantalet.

Even a goddess of copper
Cools from the hints below,
Seeing the scaffolds creep upward,
Hearing the girders go.

Even a goddess may weary,
Turn to a students' lair,
Leaving Silenus to offer
Farewells to Mad'son Square,

Leaving a crony the duties
Due to the Garden's walls,
And an old-fashioned libation --
Loosed when the tower falls.



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