He took some little, dark-red shoes And set them near a dish of grapes; -- He loved the narrow, tilting heels And buckles set with wicked stones, -- So might a dryad tilt and laugh And peep at him through friendly leaves. He found a dish of liquid green And gold fish; then he spread them out -- Sandals as green as water weeds And other shoes of dappled skin As slender as a water snake, -- And called old Neptune: "Come and see!" He fashioned ripened sheaves of wheat Into a stock of golden grain; -- Now yellow shoes and tawny brown -- Stout shoes that Ceres might have worn If shoes had been in fashion then, And slim ones for Persephone -- To take a glimmer of the sun Into her dismal hiding place. He had no pigments but his wares: He had no canvas for his dreams. There was an artist on Broadway -- I wonder what became of him? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH FOR A SOLDIER by DAVID IGNATOW MAN IN A ROOM by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THE BATTLE-FIELD by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO A CHILD DURING SICKNESS by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT THE HIGH-PRIEST TO ALEXANDER by ALFRED TENNYSON PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN OF CHARTRES by HENRY BROOKS ADAMS |