Poem “Lais when Old” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels
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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.

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American Literature – American Poetry – Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

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Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels

Lais when Old

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