"A feast we'll hold, immortal sons and daughters,"
 Zeus ordains --
 And from the depths of earth, the peaks, the waters,
 All scale Olympus with alacrity.
 
 The wine-god quits the realm he rules, exotic
 And thriving Hindustan, at Zeus' command;
 Apollo twilit Helicon's majestic
 Groves, Cypris her shore-surrounded land.
 
 From moss-embroidered springs the dancing naiads,
 From ocean those who serve the lords of sea,
 And from the silent forest-land the dryads --
 All gather for the banquet eagerly.
 
 Their raiment shines as in contentment treading
 Eternal measures. changeless and serene,
 They wind about the Thunderer, his brooding
 Demeanor now grown young, clear-eyed and keen.
 
 He signs, and Hebe takes gold cups to fill them;
 He signs, and Ceres serves ambrosia;
 He signs, and lovely hyms of joy enthrall them;
 His will the sole creator of the day.
 
 As pleasure brings a blush upon all faces,
 And crafty Cupid smiles behind his wing,
 The portals fly apart -- with halting paces
 A noble woman joins the gathering.
 
 She must of the Uranides be, surely,
 Her hair surmounted by a diadem
 Of stars, a heavenly radiance gleaming purely,
 Despite the haggard look she turns on them.
 
 Her yellow tresses are shorn short, however;
 Her virgin body clad in garments rude;
 At sight of her bruised hands they all perceive her
 A victim of the shame of servitude.
 
 Zeus studies searchingly her every feature.
 "You are -- you cannot be, Urania!"
 "I am."  The gods turn from the flowing pitcher
 To stare at her and cry "Urania?"
 
 "I know your face no longer.  From these portals
 In bygone days of youth and loveliness
 You went to tell the earth of the immortals,
 And urge their erring thoughts to turn to us.
 
 The treasure-chest that once Pandora vaunted
 Before her fall was not as richly filled
 As that you were provided with -- I wanted
 To arm you splendidly to meet the world."
 
 "The duty, lord, you in those days assigned me
 Accorded with the wish of my own heart;
 My inclination joined your own to bind me
 To brave the journey, but it bore no fruit.
 
 You may dispute with fate for man's survival--
 Let you, not fate, be rightful arbiter;
 Man cannot tell the good apart from evil;
 He's decadence and folly's prisoner.
 
 For one, a planter, I was set to plowing;
 Another made my task his house to keep;
 Another made me sing his praise, kow-towing;
 And still another, rock his child to sleep.
 
 One had me work extracting jangling metal,
 Confined within his mine against my will;
 Another hunted me through blood of battle
 In hope of glory if he made a kill.
 
 The stars of my tiara, even witting
 They were your gift, they'd gladly sacrifice
 Despite your greatness and my shame, for lighting
 Their fires against the winter's snow and ice."
 
 "Accursed herd!  At once annihilation
 Shall be their lot!" the wild-eyed Zeus decrees.
 The castle cloud-walls shake at his vexation;
 A tremor splits the air, the land, the seas.
 
 With force he seizes and begins to brandish
 The lightning from the eagle's talons; it
 Will be his earth-enkindling means to punish
 The world's mistreatment of his favorite.
 
 Advancing, all resolved to work their ruin,
 His face more menacing than lightning stroke;
 The world in terror waits for its undoing --
 He drops his arm of vengeance and steps back.
 
 "Look down, Urania. You will discover
 A loving couple where that far haze clears
 Above the meadow circled by a river --
 Whose picture on their homemade altar?  Yours."
 
 Before it they are kneeling in devotion,
 Beseeching their departed deity,
 The music of their prayers a rising ocean
 That floods the goddess in its harmony.
 
 Her dark eyes fill with tears of comprehension --
 The lovers' need infuses her with rue;
 Her long-held fury loses all its tension
 As will a bow-string in the morning dew.
 
 "Forgive!" the goddess cries, her wrath abated;
 "Those who deride me have their counterparts
 Who keep my worship still."  She sees, placated,
 Her image fill a few devoted hearts.
 
 "Let me descend to these unhappy legions,
 Instruct them in your will which few men know,
 And show them tenderly in dreams the regions
 Where true fulfillment's flowers are found to grow."
 
 "So shall it be!" calls Zeus; "all needs sustaining
 Your purpose, Daugher, shall be richly given;
 And should you henceforth feel your powers waning,
 Come back to us, free citizen of heaven.
 
 Each time you come and go a new beginning,
 Each time you leave you will be longer gone
 Until at length, your sorrows over, winning
 A lasting home on earth, its orb your own--
 
 There, patient one, you will be ranked above us,
 Enduring long beyond our transient powers;
 For when the lurking tempest shall remove us
 From our proud thrones, your star still lights men's hours."