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.