User:DoctorWho42/The Passing of Aphrodite

"The Passing of Aphrodite" is a prose poem by American author Clark Ashton Smith. It was first published in the December 1934 issue of Fantasy Fan.

Publication history
According to Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) by Donald Sidney-Fryer, "The Passing of Aphrodite" was first published in the December 1934 issue of The Fantasy Fan. It was included in the Summer (1943 issue of The Acolyte, The Abominations of Yondo (1960), Poems in Prose (1965) and Hyperborea (1971).

Plot
A poet in Illarion Phaniol meanders the wastes because of a lost love. On a beach, a barge appears with two women on board. They tell him Aphrodite is leaving Illarion but only he will know about her departure. Aphrodite talks briefly with him and leaves. Illarion turns grey as Phaniol's heart darkens.