Explore "A Waft of Perfume" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A waft of perfume from a bit of lace / Moved lightly by a passing woman's hand; / And on the common street, a sensuous grace / Shone suddenly from some lost time and land.
Tall structures changed to dome and parapet; / The stern-faced Church an oracle became; / In sheltered alcoves marble busts were set; / And on the wall frail Lais wrote her name.
Phryne before her judges stood at bay, / Fearing the rigour of Athenian laws; / Till Hyperides tore her cloak away, / And bade her splendid beauty plead its cause.
Great Alexander walking in the dusk, / Dreamed of the hour when Greek with Greek should meet; / From Thais' window attar breathed, and musk: / His footsteps went no farther down the street.
Faint and more faint the pungent perfume grew; / Of wall and parapet remained no trace. / Temple and statue vanished from the view: / The city street again was commonplace.