The Goddess of Love Stands Distinct from Ecstasy
The temple is love’s stone sonata made
Of marble and of space. Its pillars rise
In fluting. They are made of light and shade
Or more like melodies which goddess eyes
Can hear. Between the columns shadows fail
Because divinity insists on light.
The inner sanctum turns a sculpture pale
With meaning. Priests prescribe an unknown rite
That Aphrodite’s pupils, topaz blue,
Alone can read. Beneath her marble robe
She knows a strain of notes that gives a view
Which she alone can cover up and probe.
This hidden truth is brighter than Greek dawns.
Despite the hymns her heart remains cool bronze.
~ Phillip Whidden