Over the housetops, <br />Above the rotating chimney-pots, <br />I have seen a shiver of amethyst, <br />And blue and cinnamon have flickered <br />A moment, <br />At the far end of a dusty street. <br /> <br />Through sheeted rain <br />Has come a lustre of crimson, <br />And I have watched moonbeams <br />Hushed by a film of palest green. <br /> <br />It was her wings, <br />Goddess! <br />Who stepped over the clouds, <br />And laid her rainbow feathers <br />Aslant on the currents of the air. <br /> <br />I followed her for long, <br />With gazing eyes and stumbling feet. <br />I cared not where she led me, <br />My eyes were full of colours: <br />Saffrons, rubies, the yellows of beryls, <br />And the indigo-blue of quartz; <br />Flights of rose, layers of chrysoprase, <br />Points of orange, spirals of vermilion, <br />The spotted gold of tiger-lily petals, <br />The loud pink of bursting hydrangeas. <br />I followed, <br />And watched for the flashing of her wings. <br /> <br />In the city I found her, <br />The narrow-streeted city. <br />In the market-place I came upon her, <br />Bound and trembling. <br />Her fluted wings were fastened to her sides with cords, <br />She was naked and cold, <br />For that day the wind blew <br />Without sunshine. <br /> <br />Men chaffered for her, <br />They bargained in silver and gold, <br />In copper, in wheat, <br />And called their bids across the market-place. <br /> <br />The Goddess wept. <br /> <br />Hiding my face I fled, <br />And the grey wind hissed behind me, <br />Along the narrow streets.<br /><br />Amy Lowell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-captured-goddess/
