Poems of progress and new thought pastels | ||
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.
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.
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.
Poems of progress and new thought pastels | ||