The tea-rose tea-gown, etc. Supplants the mousseline of Cos, The pianola "replaces" Sappho's barbitos. Christ follows Dionysus, Phallic and ambrosial Made way for macerations, Caliban casts out Ariel. All things are a flowing, Sage Heracleitus says; But a tawdry cheapness Shall outlast our days. Even the Christian beauty Defects -- after Samothrace, We see To Kalon Decreed in the market place. Faun's flesh is not to us, Nor the saint's vision. We have the press for wafer; Franchise for circumcision. All men, in law, are equals. Free of Pisistratus, We choose a knave or an eunuch To rule over us. O bright Apollo, Tin andra, tin heroa, tin a theon, What god, man, or hero Shall I place a tin wreath upon! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARIZONA POEMS: 4. THE WINDMILLS by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER A DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER DUNS SCOTUS'S OXFORD by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SHILLIN' A DAY by RUDYARD KIPLING ON LOOKING INTO GOLDING'S OVID by STEVE SCAFIDI JR. LINES ON THE MONUMENT OF GIUSEPPE MAZZINI by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE YOU MAY REMEMBER by LULU PIPER AIKEN THE FLOWER GIRL (REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE) by WILLIAM ROSE BENET BUILDING THE LIBRARY, TOKYO UNIVERSITY; NIGHT SCENE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |