<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">On the Steps of the Jefferson Memorial </div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">We invent our gods</div><div dir="auto" class="">the <a tabindex="-1" style="color: rgb(56, 88, 152); cursor: pointer;" class=""></a>way the Greeks did,</div><div dir="auto" class="">in our own image—but magnified.</div><div dir="auto" class="">Athena, the very mother of wisdom,</div><div dir="auto" class="">squabbled with Poseidon</div><div dir="auto" class="">like any human sibling</div><div dir="auto" class="">until their furious tempers</div><div dir="auto" class="">made the sea writhe.</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">Zeus wore a crown</div><div dir="auto" class="">of lightning bolts one minute,</div><div dir="auto" class="">a cloak of feathers the next,</div><div dir="auto" class="">as driven by earthly lust</div><div dir="auto" class="">he prepared to swoop</div><div dir="auto" class="">down on Leda.</div><div dir="auto" class="">Despite their power,</div><div dir="auto" class="">frailty ran through them</div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class="">like the darker veins</div><div dir="auto" class="">in the marble of these temples</div><div dir="auto" class="">we call monuments.</div><div dir="auto" class="">Looking at Jefferson now,</div><div dir="auto" class="">I think of the language</div><div dir="auto" class="">he left for us to live by.</div><div dir="auto" class="">I think of the slave</div><div dir="auto" class="">in the kitchen downstairs.</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class="x126k92a x11i5rnm xat24cr xtlvy1s x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div dir="auto" class=""> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Linda Pastan</div></div></body></html>