"The Passing of Aphrodite" by Clark Ashton Smith

Phaniol: names like this really make the native English speaker sympathize with the ESL student. There is absolutely no way to know how to pronounce this just based on the spelling alone, and there are quite a lot of options. And the author left us no hints as to what pronunciation he had in mind. Ugh. I'm glad this is so short, so I don't have to say the name too many times before we're done with it and never have to encounter it again.

asphodel: In the real world this is a type of lily, but there is also a mythological plant of this name, being an immortal flower said to grow in the Elysian fields.

I thought about putting some ocean wave ambiance into this one. But it's so out of character for my recordings to do so, so I ended up deciding against it. Perhaps I can upload a second version with it just to see which one people prefer.

The picture used is "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/prose-poetry-plays/37/the-passing-of-aphrodite