Artemis

You will find this
lonely hunter because
you were made to hunt.
Thrashed by your mother
you climb into the lap
of unloving Zeus
asking favors, but especially
virginity, freedom
from the scavenging of men.
You guard this grant
jealously like animals and art
because once given the heart
can never be given again.
You evaded Alphaeus
by covering your face with mud.
You kill men with your golden bow,
plundered of the Kykoples.
You mock women and girls for
being seamstresses and wives.
And whom did you love--
Action? Orion? Bright Apollo--
or only the fawn, the bear
the radiant five horned deer?
Perhaps Artemis only, 'Great among the Ephesians'.