Poem: "The Myth of Amethystos"

This poem came out of the June 5, 2012 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from mdlbear.  It was sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette.  You can read about amethyst and the myth online.

Once there lived a young woman
who desired neither men nor women.
Not even the determined wooing
of Dionysus himself could turn her head.

When Amethystos went to pay tribute
to the temple of Artemis,
Dionysus fell upon her in drunken lust
and pulled the clothes from her body.

Amethystos prayed to Artemis
for protection, and the goddess
turned her into a statue
of clear impregnable crystal.

Stricken by remorse,
Dionysus wept over the statue
and poured the last of his wine as libation,
and the stone turned the violet of wisdom.

Since then, the stone called amethyst
has stood for the virtue of chastity
and it is said to protect against intoxication,
Artemis' final rebuke of Dionysus.