Sappho
 

1. Some say horsemen, some foot-soldiers,
    Some a fleet on the dark waters,
    Is most beautiful, but I say this: It is
          That which you desire.
 

 2. The evening star brings back all which the brightness has scattered:
    You bring the goat, you bring the ox, you bring the child to its mother.
 

3. The stars around the beautiful moon
     Again conceal their shining forms
     When she shines at her brightest
       Upon all the earth.

4.  Both moon and Pleidas
     Have set, in the middle
     Of the night, hours pass,
          And I lie alone.
 

5.  Like a sweet apple reddening on the highest branch,
     At the furthest tip, that the apple pickers forgot -
     No, they did not forget- they were unable to reach.

6. He appears to me to be some god,
    That man who sits opposite you
    And leans near in order to catch
            Your sweet laugh,

    And my tongue seems to crack,
    My heart leaps wildly in my breast,
    Sweat pours down my throat,
          My voice dissolves,

    but
 
 

        When you lay dead they'll be no remembrance of you,
        Not now nor in the future: you did not gather
        Pieria's roses and so unseen in Hades' hall
        You'll roam, flittering dimly amongst the dead.
 

        Here's Timas' dust, who perished before marriage
        And was received into Persephone's cyan chambers.
        At death, by newly honed iron's bite,
        All her companions placed down a curling lock.
 

        And you, Dika, carefully set a garland about your brow
        Having knit springs of dill with slender hands,
        For on approaching the kindly goddess
        You'll be the first, the ungarlanded being unseen.
 
 

         I have a fair daughter resembling the form
         Of golden flowers, beloved Kleis;
         For her I'd not exchange all of Lydia nor...
 

 

        ...And the large bowl of ambrosia being mixed
           Hermes rose a cup, poured a libation
           To the gods and all, grasping goblets,
           Sent forth their blessings upon the groom.
 
 

...I know for certain they'll never again be a maiden
   So wise as you to gaze at in the golden light.
 
 

    ...What rustic girl enchants your thoughts,
    Not even knowing how to arrange a robe
                    About the ankles?
 

       But if you're a friend select
       Another for your bed, one young;
       I'd not endure, I've no bond
       With the young, old as I am.
 

                       Come, O Kypris,
               Into elegant, golden  cups
               Swirling nectar for the feast
                          Deign to pour.
 

       ...And here Kretan maids with measured step
            Danced, brushing, around the altar,
       With tender soles, the grass' tender flowers.
 

        ...O sweet mother, I cannot ply the loom:
        I yearn, yoked to one slender by Aphrodite.
 

        ...In mountainside pastures shepherds feet fall
           On hyacinth and the flower's purple drips to earth

 
           Maidenhood, maidenhood, where, O sweet one, do you go?
           No longer do I have you, no longer shall I hold you.
 

           I delight in elegance and to me desire
           Is the sun's radiance, replete with beauty.
 

        Fair Adonis, O Kythera, has died, what shall we do?
        Strike yourselves, maidens, rend your garments.
 
 

        ...And again limb-relaxing desire shakes me,
                 A bitter-sweet, ineluctable assault.
 

          ...The moon exhibited its fullness
          As about the altar maidens stood.
 

          But, Attis, your thoughts tend toward hatred
              Of me, when you're with Andromeda.
 
 

         ...Why, O swallow, Pandion's daughter, disturb me?
 
 

          ...a dark eyed untimelyness born of night.
 
 
 

        ...I was delighted by you, Attis, long ago.
 
 
 

        ...To me you seemed but a little, petulant child.
 
 

       ...I know not what to do, two thoughts possess me.
 
 

      ...And like a child to its mother I stretch myself out
                              Upon the earth.
 
 
 

         ...Spring's herald, the lovely voiced nightengale.
 

          ...And desire shakes my spirit like the wind
             That rushes against a mountainside oak.
 
 
 
 

.About cool waters
 The wind is murmering through apple
 Branches and from quivering leaves
              Sleep drips downward.
 

...Had you yearned to speak nobly or well
And without a tongue willing wickedness,
Shame filling both your eyes, you would
       Have spoken frankly.
 

Step forward friend,
And let your eyes' gracefullness unfurl....
 

Someone will recall our words in the future....
 

And you were forgetful of me......
 

As nothing you are to me.....
 

And I desire and I seek....
 

Anger being scattered within the breast,
From futile yelping guard the tongue...
 

O that I, golden garlanded Aphrodite,
Might obtain the prize......
 

......And now for my companions'
Delectation I will sing this skillfully.

..... Why, that one
I looked on kindly gives me the most distress.
 

As for you, fair maids, my thoughts
        Are constant.

....Yet with spirits becoming cooler,
  And relaxing their wings.....

....And with feet
By a pied strap enclosed, a beautiful Lydian work.