Arachne...

Arachne

Outwove you,
just like I said I would.
What can you say-- to me,
hey! goddess--
I kept my word.
Are you angry?
--grow a mouth then,
if you want to shout.
You stand straight with wrath--
you stand before me.
Breast-to-breast,
and your hands rise--
your wrists warp,
your fingers weft--
and don't you see I made them too!
carded them out from you
and pulled them taut
between us?

Oh what punishment, this?
--once I was a weaver,
my hands were quick.
My whole body is hands, now--
now I am a dancer,
weaving at the center-- sure, steady
and still quicker than you!

Only a god
would call that punishment.