Explore "Before the Temple" by Madison Cawein on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
/ I. All desolate she sate her down / Upon the marble of the temple's stair. / You would have thought her, with her eyes of brown, / Flushed cheeks and hazel hair, / A dryad dreaming there.
/ II. A priest of Bacchus passed, nor stopped / To chide her; deeming her -- whose chiton hid / But half her bosom, and whose girdle dropped -- / Some grief-drowned Bassarid, / The god of wine had chid.
/ III. With wreaths of woodland cyclamen / For Dian's shrine, a shepherdess drew near, / All her young thoughts on vestal beauty, when -- / She dare not look for fear -- / Behold the goddess here!
/ IV. Fierce lights on shields of bossy brass / And helms of gold, next from the hills deploy / Tall youths of Argos. And she sees _him_ pass, / Flushed with heroic joy, / On towards the siege of Troy.