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.