Poor Priapus regards his tool:
His most prodigious private part,
Made public in the vestibule
In travesties of civic art.

'Alas!' he cries, 'where can I find
A nymph to take my staff entire –
This rod in which there are entwined
Both lift and letdown of desire?'

While graceful Artemis ignores
The overtures of rustic lust,
His tension finds a metaphor
In smoldering Vesuvius.