| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1485. A Sleeping Priestess of Aphrodite |
| | | By Robert Cameron Rogers |
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| SHE dreams of Love upon the temple stair,— | |
| About her feet the lithe green lizards play | |
| In all the drowsy, warm, Sicilian air. | |
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| The winds have loosed the fillet from her hair, | |
| Sea winds, salt-lipped, that laugh and seem to say, | 5 |
| “She dreams of Love, upon the temple stair. | |
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| “Then let us twine soft fingers, here and there, | |
| Amid the gleaming threads that drift and stray | |
| In all the drowsy, warm, Sicilian air, | |
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| “And let us weave of them a subtle snare | 10 |
| To cast about and bind her, as to-day | |
| She dreams of Love, upon the temple stair.” | |
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| Alas, the madcap winds,—how much they dare! | |
| They wove the web, and in their wanton way, | |
| In all the drowsy, Sicilian air, | 15 |
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| They bound her sleeping, in her own bright hair. | |
| And as she slept came Love—and passed away,— | |
| She dreams of Love, upon the temple stair, | |
| In all the drowsy, warm, Sicilian air. | |
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