Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLAD OF A MAN-MADE WOMAN, by MARJORIE ALLEN SEIFFERT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLAD OF A MAN-MADE WOMAN, by                    
First Line: Sing-a-ling-lo, of a man-made woman
Last Line: Yes, and never.
Alternate Author Name(s): Cypher, Angela; Hay, Elijah
Subject(s): Women


Sing-a-ling-lo, of a man-made woman --
Why -- no -- forever;
More than human and less than human --
Yes, and never.

She stood like a white unfinished tower,
And men were filled with a lusty power --
Filled with implacable god-like duty
To shape this woman with dreadful beauty.

Her incompleteness was a cry
That challenged every passer-by --
Why -- no -- forever.

One by one they came to her side
Glowing with Jove-like power and pride.
The first carved dreams in her empty eyes,
The next tuned her ears with heavenly lies.

A woman of flesh, or clay, or stone,
That each would fashion, and each alone --
Yes, and never.

One man worked an age-long while
To change the shadow of her smile.
Another molded her curving breast
Till it offered rest, and gave no rest.

Their hands made her body ripe and sweet,
Yet she was forever incomplete --
Yes, forever.

And she was plastic -- with each change
She grew less human and more strange.
As gods of beauty, light, and lust,
They shaped her unillumined dust.

And none was able, no, not one,
To finish what he had begun --
No, and never.

Till she longed for a god with hands of fire
To shape her after his own desire,
To kindle her till she illumed,
Blazed high, was utterly consumed.

Alas, that no immortal breath
Wakened her from her stony death --
Why -- no -- forever!

Like an unfinished tower she seemed
To hint a thing some god had dreamed --
A careless god, who leaves his plan
For mortal to finish, if mortal can.

A man-made woman, sing-a-ling-lo --
Why -- no -- forever.
Less than human, as humans go,
Yes, and never.





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