“...gracious your form and your eyes as honey : desire is poured upon your lovely face Aphrodite has honored you exceedingly...”

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

“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”

“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...”

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

“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.”

“]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”