To Artemis, Defender Of The Unborn Poem by Michael Walker

Daughter of the River Oblivion,
Sister of the silent, shining sun,
Mother over young Endymion,
Lover of the woods through which deer run,

You illuminate us with the moon,
To bade young men and maidens, 'Remain chaste, '
For no one but the stars could make you swoon,
To whom you race to embrace with most haste.

Shower down your arrows of the night!
On women to free children from their wombs,
To lead them from the darkness to the light
With your golden bow above their tombs.

You're clothed in asphodel and amaranth,
The stainless maiden of this labyrinth.