Poems by Sappho

Sappho

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  • 1.Anactoria
  • 2.And_Their_Feet_Move
  • 3.Awed_by_Her_Splendor
  • 4.Blame_Aphrodite
  • 5.Cleis
  • 6.Cyprian,_in_My_Dream
  • 7.Death
  • 8.He_Is_More_Than_a_Hero
  • 9.I_Have_No_Complaint
  • 10.I_Took_My_Lyre
  • 11.In_the_Spring_Twilight
  • 12.It_Was_You,_Atthis
  • 13.Leto_and_Niobe
  • 14.No_Word
  • 15.Of_Course_I_Love_You
  • 16.Prayer_to_Our_Lady_of_Paphos
  • 17.Sounds_of_Grief
  • 18.Standing_By_My_Bed
  • 19.Tell_Everyone
  • 20.The_Muses
  • 21.To_Aphrodite
  • 22.To_an_Army_Wife
  • 23.Tonight_I_Watched
  • 24.We_Put_the_Urn_Aboard_Ship
  • 25.We_Shall_Enjoy_It
  • 26.With_His_Venom
  • 27.Without_Warning
  • 28.Words
  • 29.You_May_Forget



  • c. 625 B.C.E.




    1.Anactoria



    Yes, Atthis, you may be sure
    Even in Sardis
    Anactoria will think often of us

    of the life we shared here, when you seemed
    the Goddess incarnate
    to her and your singing pleased her best

    Now among Lydian women she in her
    turn stands first as the red-
    fingered moon rising at sunset takes

    precedence over stars around her;
    her light spreads equally
    on the salt sea and fields thick with bloom

    Delicious dew purs down to freshen
    roses, delicate thyme
    and blossoming sweet clover; she wanders

    aimlessly, thinking of gentle
    Atthis, her heart hanging
    heavy with longing in her little breast

    She shouts aloud, Come! we know it;
    thousand-eared night repeats that cry
    across the sea shining between us

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard



    2.And_Their_Feet_Move



    And their feet move
    rhythmically, as tender
    feet of Cretan girls
    danced once around an

    altar of love, crushing
    a circle in the soft
    smooth flowering grass

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard



    3.Awed_by_Her_Splendor



    Awed by her splendor
    stars near the lovely
    moon cover their own
    bright faces
              when she
    is roundest and lights
    earth with her silver

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    4.Blame_Aphrodite



    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

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard


    5.Cleis



    Sleep, darling
    I have a small
    daughter called
    Cleis, who is

    like a golden
    flower
              I wouldn't
    take all Croesus'
    kingdom with love
    thrown in, for her

    Don't ask me what to wear
    I have no embroidered
    headband from Sardis to
    give you, Cleis, such as
    I wore
              and my mother
    always said that in her
    day a purple ribbon
    looped in the hair was thought


    to be high style indeed

    but we were dark:
                     a girl
    whose hair is yellower than
    torchlight should wear no
    headdress but fresh flowers

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    6.Cyprian,_in_My_Dream



    Cyprian, in my dream
    the folds of a purple
    kerchief shadowed
    your cheeks -- the one

    Timas one time sent,
    a timid gift, all
    the way from Phocaea

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    7.Death



    We know this much
    Death is an evil;
    we have the gods'
    word for it; they too
    would die if death
    were a good thing

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard



    8.He_Is_More_Than_a_Hero



    He is more than a hero
    he is a god in my eyes--
    the man who is allowed
    to sit beside you -- he

    who listens intimately
    to the sweet murmur of
    your voice, the enticing

    laughter that makes my own
    heart beat fast. If I meet
    you suddenly, I can'

    speak -- my tongue is broken;
    a thin flame runs under
    my skin; seeing nothing,

    hearing only my own ears
    drumming, I drip with sweat;
    trembling shakes my body

    and I turn paler than
    dry grass. At such times
    death isn't far from me

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    9.I_Have_No_Complaint



    I have no complaint
    prosperity that
    the golden Muses
    gave me was no
    delusion: dead, I
    won't be forgotten




    10.I_Took_My_Lyre



    I took my lyre and said:
    Come now, my heavenly
    tortoise shell: become
    a speaking instrument

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard



    11.In_the_Spring_Twilight



    In the spring twilight
    the full moon is shining:
    Girls take their places
    as though around an altar

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    12.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

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    13.Leto_and_Niobe



    Before they were mothers
    Leto and Niobe
    had been the most
    devoted of friends

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    14.No_Word



    I have had not one word from her

    Frankly I wish I were dead.
    When she left, she wept

    a great deal; she said to
    me, "This parting must be
    endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."

    I said, "Go, and be happy
    but remember (you know
    well) whom you leave shackled by love

    "If you forget me, think
    of our gifts to Aphrodite
    and all the loveliness that we shared

    "all the violet tiaras,
    braided rosebuds, dill and
    crocus twined around your young neck

    "myrrh poured on your head
    and on soft mats girls with
    all that they most wished for beside them

    "while no voices chanted
    choruses without ours,
    no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..."

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    15.Of_Course_I_Love_You



    Of course I love you
    but if you love me,
    marry a young woman!

    I couldn't stand it
    to live with a young
    man, I being older

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    16.Prayer_to_Our_Lady_of_Paphos



    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

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    17.Sounds_of_Grief



    Must I remind you, Cleis,
    that sounds of grief
    are unbecmoming in
    a poet's household?

    and that they are not
    suitable in ours?

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    18.Standing_By_My_Bed



    Standing by my bed
    in gold sandals
    Dawn that very
    moment awoke me

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard





    19.Tell_Everyone



    Tell everyone
    now, today, I shall
    sing beautifully for
    my friends' pleasure

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    20.The_Muses



    It is the Muses
    who have caused me
    to be honred: they
    taught me their craft

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    21.To_Aphrodite



    Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
    eternal daughterf 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!

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard





    22.To_an_Army_Wife



    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

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    23.Tonight_I_Watched



    Tonight I've watched
    the moon and then
    the Pleiades
    go down

    The night is now
    half-gone; youth
    goes; I am

    in bed alone

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    24.We_Put_the_Urn_Aboard_Ship



    We put the urn aboard ship
    with this inscription:

    This is the dust of little
    Timas who unmarried was led
    into Persephone's dark bedroom

    And she being far from home, girls
    her age took new-edged blades
    to cut, in mourning for her,
    these curls of their soft hair

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    25.We_Shall_Enjoy_It



    We shall enjoy it
    as for him who finds
    fault, may silliness
    and sorrow take him!

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    26.With_His_Venom



    With his venom
    irresistible
    and bittersweet

    that loosener
    of limbs, Love

    reptile-like
    strikes me down

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard





    27.Without_Warning



    Without warning
    as a whirlwind
    swoops on an oak
    Love shakes my heart

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard





    28.Words



    Although they are
    only breath, words
    which I command
    are immortal

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard




    29.You_May_Forget



    You may forget but
    let me tell you
    this: someone in
    some future time
    will think of us

                     Sappho
                     tr. Barnard