Medea Made of Marble, Barbarity, and Beauty
……
One difficulty is that we make gold
Where only bronze was. Alchemy of mind
Tends finally to turn ideals and old
Exemplars into falsenenesses which blind
With kitschlike beauty. Worlds built on slaves
Are blight, not manna. If the parts we see
Come down to us in marble architraves
Or helmets of a loveliness that’s free
Of all but bronze’s grace, that doesn’t mean
The long-gone culture which produced them made
Them sinlessly. The myths behind a queen
Who slaughters her own children with the blade
Of jealousy are closer to the truth.
Her culture found high principles uncouth.
