Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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 harbour 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 revelled 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 favour and exalt her shame.

       .          .          .          .          .           .

    She spat upon her dole of coins in rage
       And faded like a phantom down the street. 

1. The Birth of the Orchid
2. The Call (All wantonly in hours of joy)
3. Be Not Attached
4. Behold the Earth
5. The Black Charger

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