to marry the god if he got her out
of Knossos. As usual, Dionysus dallied,
with Silenos in the Symi Forest,
drinking and dancing with dryads and maenads
till he lost his chance, and she chose a mortal.
Her face in her hands, her hair blazing
red on the white beach, the waves drowning
the hunter’s approach: a perfect target.
An arrow made a tau of Ariadne’s neck,
a tmesis retort, immortality lost.
Meanwhile, the sea still immured Daedalus,
who detested Crete and his extended exile.
Homesickness kept hailing him.