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LAIS WHEN OLD
  
  
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30

LAIS WHEN OLD

Lais, when old and all her beauty gone,
Lais, the erstwhile courted pleasure queen,
Walked homeless through Corinth. One mocked her mien—
One tossed her coins; she took them and passed on.
Down by the harbor sloped a terraced lawn,
Where fountains played; she paused to view the scene.
A marble palace stood in bowers of green.
'Twas here of old she reveled till the dawn.
Through yonder portico her lovers came—
Hero and statesman, athlete, merchant, sage;
They flung the whole world's treasures at her feet
To buy her favor and exalt her shame.
[OMITTED]
She spat upon her dole of coins in rage
And faded like a phantom down the street.