Sappho

“I would not think to touch the sky with two arms”

“someone will remember us I say even in another time”

“you burn me”

“Some say thronging cavalry, some say foot soldiers, others call a fleet the most beautiful of sights the dark earth offers, but I say it's what- ever you love best.. . . .But that reminds me:now my Anactória is gone, and I'd rather see her lovely step, her sparkling glance and her face than gaze on all the troops in Lydia in their chariots and glittering armor.”

“At noontimeWhen the earth is bright with flamingheat falling straight downthe cricket setsup a high-pitchedsinging in his wings”

“When they were tiredNight rained herthick dark sleepupon their eyes.”

“The dice of love are shouting and madness.”

“The moon is setand the Pleiades; Middle ofthe night, time passes by,I lie alone.”

“I declareThat later on, Even in an age unlike our own,Someone will remember who we are.”

“What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.”

“Come to me once more, and abate my torment;Take the bitter care from my mind, and give meAll I long for; Lady, in all my battlesFight as my comrade.”

“may you sleep on the breast of your delicate friend”

“Come to me now and loosen mefrom blunt agony. Laborand fill my heart with fire. Stand by meand be my ally.”

“Eros, again now, the loosener of limbs troubles me,Bittersweet, sly, uncontrollable creature….”

“In fact she herself once blamed meKyprogeneiabecause I prayed this word:I want.”

“you came and I was crazy for youand you cooled my mind that burned with longing”

“...but I say whatever / one loves, is”

“Now the Earth with many flowers puts on her spring embroidery”

“]Sardisoften turning her thoughts here]you like a goddessand in your song most of all she rejoiced.But now she is conspicuous among Lydian womenas sometimes at sunsetthe rosyfingered moonsurpasses all the stars. And her lightstretches over salt seaequally and flowerdeep fields.And the beautiful dew is poured outand roses bloom and frailchervil and flowering sweetclover.But she goes back and forth rememberinggentle Atthis and in longingshe bites her tender mind”

“yet if you had a desire for good or beautiful thingsand your tongue were not concocting some evil to sayshame would not hold down your eyesbut rather you would speak about what is just”

“their heart grew coldthey let their wings down”

“]sing to usthe one with violets in her lap]mostly]goes astray”

“And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face.”

“Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us.”

“Stand and face me, my love,and scatter the grace in your eyes.”

“Love shook my heartLike the wind on the mountainrushing over the oak trees.”

“Eros once again limb-loosener whirls me sweetbitter, impossible to fight off, creature stealing up...I don't know what I should do: two states of mind in me...”

“The moon has setAnd the Pleiades.Midnight.I lie in bed alone.”

“I have not had one word from herFrankly I wish I were deadWhen she left, she wepta great deal; she said to me, "This parting must beendured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."I said, "Go, and be happybut remember (you knowwell) whom you leave shackled by love"If you forget me, thinkof our gifts to Aphroditeand all the loveliness that we shared"all the violet tiaras,braided rosebuds, dill andcrocus twined around your young neck"myrrh poured on your headand on soft mats girls withall that they most wished for beside them"while no voices chantedchoruses without ours,no woodlot bloomed in spring without song...”

“Honestly, I wish I were dead.Weeping many tears, she left me and said,“Alas, how terribly we suffer, Sappho.I really leave you against my will.”And I answered: “Farewell, go and remember me.You know how we cared for you.If not, I would remind you ... of our wonderful times.For by my side you put onmany wreaths of rosesand garlands of flowersaround your soft neck.And with precious and royal perfumeyou anointed yourself.On soft beds you satisfied your passion.And there was no dance,no holy placefrom which we were absent.”

“Some say an army of horsemen,some of footsoldiers, some of ships,is the fairest thing on the black earth,but I say it is what one loves.It's very easy to make this clearto everyone, for Helen,by far surpassing mortals in beauty,left the best of all husbandsand sailed to Troy,mindful of neither her childnor her dear parents, butwith one glimpse she was seduced byAphrodite. For easily bent...and nimbly...[missing text]...has reminded me nowof Anactoria who is not here;I would much prefer to see the lovelyway she walks and the radiant glance of her facethan the war-chariots of the Lydians ortheir footsoldiers in arms.”

“I can reveal to you that I wished to die -For with much weeping she left meSaying: "Sappho - what suffering is ours!For it is against my will that I leave you."In answer, I said: "Go, happily remembering meFor you know what we shared and pursued -If not, I wish you to see again our [ former joys ] .....The many braids of rose and violet you [ wreathed ]Around yourself at my sideAnd the many garlands of flowersWith which you adorned your soft neck:With royal oils from [ fresh flowers ]You anointed [ yourself ]And on soft beds fulfilled your longing[ For me ] ....”

“Then you my goddess with your immortal lips smilingWould ask what now afflicts me, why againI am calling and what now I with my restive heartDesired: Whom now shall I beguile To bring you to her love? Who now injures you, Sappho? For if she flees, soon shall she chase And, rejecting gifts, soon shall she give. If she does not love you, she shall do so soon Whatsoever is her will.Come to me now to end this consuming painBringing what my heart desires to be brought:Be yourself my ally in this fight.”

“Some say an army of horsemen, or infantry,A fleet of ships is the fairest thingOn the face of the black earth, but I sayIt's what one loves.”

“Girls, be good to these spirits of music and poetrythat breast your threshold with their scented gifts.Lift the lyre, clear and sweet, they leave with you.As for me, this body is now so arthriticI cannot play, hardly even hold the instrument.Can you believe my white hair was once black?And oh, the soul grows heavy with the body.Complaining knee-joints creak at every move.To think I danced as delicate as a deer!Some gloomy poems came from these thoughts:useless: we are all born to lose life,and what is worse, girls, to lose youth.The legend of the goddess of the dawnI’m sure you know: how rosy Eosmadly in love with gorgeous young Tithonusswept him like booty to her hiding-placebut then forgot he would grow old and greywhile she in despair pursued her immortal way.”

“Live for the gifts the fragrant-breasted Musessend, for the clear, the singing, lyre, my children.Old age freezes my body, once so lithe,rinses the darkness from my hair, now white.My heart’s heavy, my knees no longer keep meup through the dance they used to prance like fawns in.Oh, I grumble about it, but for what?Nothing can stop a person’s growing old.They say that Tithonus was swept awayin Dawn’s passionate, rose-flushed arms to liveforever, but he lost his looks, his youth,failing husband of an immortal bride.”

“[You for] the fragrant-blossomed Muses’ lovely gifts[be zealous,] girls, [and the] clear melodious lyre:[but my once tender] body old age now[has seized;] my hair’s turned [white] instead of dark;my heart’s grown heavy, my knees will not support me,that once on a time were fleet for the dance as fawns.This state I oft bemoan; but what’s to do?Not to grow old, being human, there’s no way.Tithonus once, the tale was, rose-armed Dawn,love-smitten, carried off to the world’s end,handsome and young then, yet in time grey ageo’ertook him, husband of immortal wife.”

“Raise high the roof beam, carpenters. Like Ares comes the bridegroom, taller far than a tall man.”

“If you are squeamishDon't prod thebeach rubble.”

“The gleaming stars all about the shining moonHide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendidIn the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth with clear silver light.”

“Οἶον τὸ γλυκύμαλον ἐρεύθεται ἄκρῳ ἐπ᾽ ὔσδῳ ἄκρον ἐπ᾽ ἀκροτάτῳ λελάθοντο δὲ μαλοδρόπνεσ, οὐ μὰν ἐκλελάθοντ᾽, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐδύναντ᾽ ἐπίκεσθαι”

“Love is a cunning weaver of fantasies and fables.”

“You came and I was longing for you.You cooled a heart that burned with desire.”

“Once again love drives me on, that loosener of limbs, bittersweet creature against which nothing can be done.”

“Although only breath, words which I command are immortal.”

“Although only breath, words which I speak are immortal.”

“You may forget butlet me tell youthis: someone insome future timewill think of us”

“There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.”

“I know not what to do, my mind is divided”

“What creature is it that isfemale in nature and hidesin its womb unborn childrenwho, although they are voiceless, speak to people far away?The female creature is a letter.The unborn children are the letters(of the alphabet) it carries. And the letters, although they have no voices,speak to people far away.”