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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I have no complaint
prosperity that
the golden Muses
gave me was no
delusion: dead, I
won't be forgotten
I took my lyre and said:
Come now, my heavenly
tortoise shell: become
a speaking instrument
Sappho
tr. Barnard
In the spring twilight
the full moon is shining:
Girls take their places
as though around an altar
Sappho
tr. Barnard
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
Before they were mothers
Leto and Niobe
had been the most
devoted of friends
Sappho
tr. Barnard
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
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
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
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
Standing by my bed
in gold sandals
Dawn that very
moment awoke me
Sappho
tr. Barnard
Tell everyone
now, today, I shall
sing beautifully for
my friends' pleasure
Sappho
tr. Barnard
It is the Muses
who have caused me
to be honred: they
taught me their craft
Sappho
tr. Barnard
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
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
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
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
We shall enjoy it
as for him who finds
fault, may silliness
and sorrow take him!
Sappho
tr. Barnard
With his venom
irresistible
and bittersweet
that loosener
of limbs, Love
reptile-like
strikes me down
Sappho
tr. Barnard
Without warning
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
Love shakes my heart
Sappho
tr. Barnard
Although they are
only breath, words
which I command
are immortal
Sappho
tr. Barnard
You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us
Sappho
tr. Barnard