Explore "Why have you Sought" by Hilda Doolittle on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Why have you sought the Greeks, Eros, / when such delight was yours / in the far depth of sky: / there you could note bright ivory / take colour where she bent her face, / and watch fair gold shed gold / on radiant surface of porch and pillar: / and ivory and bright gold, / polished and lustrous grow faint / beside that wondrous flesh / and print of her foot-hold: / Love, why do you tempt the Grecian porticoes?
Here men are bent with thought / and women waste fair moments / gathering lint and pricking coloured stuffs / to mar their breasts, / while she, adored, / wastes not her fingers, / worn of fire and sword, / wastes not her touch / on linen and fine thread, / wastes not her head / in thought and pondering, / Love, why have you sought the horde / of spearsmen, why the tent / Achilles pitched beside the river-ford?