5/29/04 Artemis tries to find a Lover

Another fight
Another heartbreak
Another night
When it won’t all be all right.

But the waves are playing night games,
The white curve of the waves reach out to each other,
Grabbing hands just before they run,
Laughing, crashing, onto the shore.
They play over and over like children do.
The moon is nowhere, but somewhere, she’s there
Pulling at the water.
I have been alone,
But she used to follow me and nod to me
As we looked at each other, from the sky.

A girl is laughing as she spins
Under the lamplight in the park
“I am so happy right now!” she calls out.
I sigh wearily as I trudge back to the car
With another half-hearted, temporary lover.
Artemis’s virgin priestesses
Spin freely under the night sky
By the wild night waves.
I used to be one of them
Till I put down my bow
Secretly
I’d always been looking for my lover, with my lonely child’s yearning.
A dedicated virgin goddess
With an Aphrodite heart
More ready than people would believe
To quit her wild, lonely ways
And rest in her lover’s warm arms.
Still, no man has caught me
They’ve all turned to stone
Or maybe just gone away.
And I know how to be alone
I’ve never had a home
Cradled only by the arms of a tree
And the wild night sky my only cover

Oh, oh,
Artemis tries to find a lover,
But at the end of this long, weary poem,
She still ends up
Alone.