Ephemera (Buck)/The Votaress
THE VOTARESS
For the beauty thou has given me, O goddess, I thank thee . . .
I stand in my marbled bath and see, reflected in the green water, the clear glory of my body, smooth and glowing beneath the caress of my hands. On the streets, I appear in my fairest vestments and costliest jewels. When the passing men turn to look at me, I part my sanguined lips in a warm smile; and each month, at the full moon, O goddess, I lay at thy feet a mina earned in thy name.
Yet neither thy love nor the white poppies of Persephone bring the forgetfulness I crave. Through the long days when I am alone, I dream of sunlit meadows and crystal streams and, above the noises of the city, the call of shepherds' pipes whispers in my ears . . .
Then I close my door and, weeping, clothe myself in a simple linen tunic which my lovers never see and which is marked with green and red.