“Alas. My whole life was in vain”
Rodin overawed cried out
When he first saw Apollo at Olympia.

And frantically he rummaged
The bottom of his pouch.
Where was the fault he wondered ?
Was it a tool he had neglected ?
A tool that needed the affection of his touch ?

Breathless he dashed to the workshop of Phidias
And everywhere he sought – deep in his thoughts –
For any little thing that might have helped
Distraught he dug his fingers in the soil.

Might he, by chance, discover
A tool of Hephaestus,
He never knew ?

Might he find a godly tool
Olympia hides ?

A tool that stirs,
And elates the soul,
And sets it free.