Sappho
I SAY
You would want
few
to be carried away.
Sweeter.
You yourself know
but someone forgot.
Some might say
I will love
as long as there is breath
in me.
I'll care.
I say I've been a firm friend.
Things grievous,
bitter,
but know
I will love.
TO HER DAUGHTER
When our girls were young,
they used red yarn to tie back their hair;
they had no other finery.
That was enough then to be grand.
But that luxuriant hair of yours,
Yellower than torchlight, you cover with
a big floppy leaf hat
and the biggest flowers,
over a tight neat hairnet.
Now you ask me for a headband
embroidered in Persia,
or from Sardis, that elegant city.
I have no embroidered headband
for you, Kleis, and no way to get one.
In exile, such ribbons are memories.
Don't you know? As long as Mytilene
is ruled by the Kleanax family,
our name is gone.
It's no use
Mother dear, I
can't finish my
weaving
You may
blame Aphrodite
soft as she is
she has almost
killed me with
love for that boy
TO APHRODITE
You know the place: then
Leave Crete and come to us
waiting where the grove is
pleasantest, by precincts
sacred to you; incense
smokes on the altar, cold
streams murmur through the
apple branches, a young
rose thicket shades the ground
and quivering leaves pour
down deep sleep; in meadows
where horses have grown sleek
among spring flowers, dill
scents the air. Queen! Cyprian!
Fill our gold cups with love
stirred into clear nectar
To any army wife, in Sardis:
Some say a cavalry corps,
some infantry, some again,
will maintain that the swift oars
of our fleet are the finest
sight on dark earth; but I say
that whatever one loves, is.
This is easily proved: did
not Helen --- she who had scanned
the flower of the world's manhood ---
choose as first among men one
who laid Troy's honor in ruin?
warped to his will, forgetting
love due her own blood, her own
child, she wandered far with him.
So Anactoria, although you
being far away forget us,
the dear sound of your footstep
and light glancing in your eyes
would move me more than glitter
of Lydian horse or armored
tread of mainland infantry
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF PAPHOS
Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of God,
snare-knitter! Don't, I beg you,
cow my heart with grief! Come,
as once when you heard my far-
off cry and, listening, stepped
from your father's house to your
gold car, to yoke the pair whose
beautiful thick-feathered wings
oaring down mid-air from heaven
carried you to light swiftly
on dark earth; then, blissful one,
smiling your immortal smile
you asked, What ailed me now that
me call you again? What
was it that my distracted
heart most wanted? ``Whom has
Persuasion to bring round now
``to your love? Who, Sappho, is
unfair to you? For, let her
run, she will soon run after;
``if she won't accept gifts, she
will one day give them; and if
she won't love you --- she soon will
``love, although unwillingly...''
If ever --- come now! Relieve
this intolerable pain!
What my heart most hopes will
happen, make happen; you your-
self join forces on my side!
IT WAS YOU, ATTHIS
It was you, Atthis, who said
``Sappho, if you will not get
up and let us look at you
I shall never love you again!
``Get up, unleash your suppleness,
lift off your Chian nightdress
and, like a lily leaning into
``a spring, bathe in the water.
Cleis is bringing your best
pruple frock and the yellow
``tunic down from the clothes chest;
you will have a cloak thrown over
you and flowers crowning your hair...
``Praxinoa, my child, will you please
roast nuts for our breakfast? One
of the gods is being good to us:
``today we are going at last
into Mitylene, our favorite
city, with Sappho, loveliest
``of its women; she will walk
among us like a mother with
all her daughters around her
``when she comes home from exile...''
But you forget everything
On the throne of many hues, Immortal Aphrodite,
child of Zeus, weaving wiles--I beg you
not to subdue my spirit, Queen,
with pain or sorrow
but come--if ever before
having heard my voice from far away
you listened, and leaving your father's
golden home you came
in your chariot yoked with swift, lovely
sparrows bringing you over the dark earth
thick-feathered wings swirling down
from the sky through mid-air
arriving quickly--you, Blessed One,
with a smile on your unaging face
asking again what I have suffered
and why am I calling again
and in my wild heart what did I most wish
to happen to me: "Again whom must I persuade
back into the harness of your love?
Sappho, who wrongs you?
For if she flees, soon she'll pursue,
she doesn't accept gifts, but she'll give,
if not now loving, soon she'll love
even against her will."
Come to me now again, release me from
this pain, everything my spirit longs
to have fulfilled, fulfill, and you
be my ally
Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of God,
snare-knitter! Don't, I beg you,
cow my heart with grief! Come,
as once when you heard my far-
off cry and, listening, stepped
from your father's house to your
gold car, to yoke the pair whose
beautiful thick-feathered wings
oaring down mid-air from heaven
carried you to light swiftly
on dark earth; then, blissful one,
smiling your immortal smile
you asked, What ailed me now that
me me call you again? What
was it that my distracted
heart most wanted? "Whom has
Persuasion to bring round now
"to your love? Who, Sappho, is
unfair to you? For, let her
run, she will soon run after;
"if she won't accept gifts, she
will one day give them; and if
she won't love you -- she soon will
"love, although unwillingly..."
If ever -- come now! Relieve
this intolerable pain!
What my heart most hopes will
happen, make happen; you your-
self join forces on my side!
Standing by my bed
in gold sandals
Dawn that very
moment awoke me
To flip through the pages of my BOS faster...
Brightest of Blessings