Now even I come before thee
With oil and honey and wheat-bread,
Praying for strength and fulfilment
Of human longing, with purpose 10
Ever to keep thy great worship
Pure and undarkened.
With oil and honey and wheat-bread,
Praying for strength and fulfilment
Of human longing, with purpose 10
Ever to keep thy great worship
Pure and undarkened.
Sappho
" men shall ask
XXXV When the great pink mallow
XXXVI When I pass thy door at night
XXXVII Well I found you in the twilit garden
XXXVIII Will not men remember us
XXXIX I grow weary of the foreign cities
XL Ah, what detains thee, Phaon
XLI Phaon, O my lover
XLII O heart of insatiable longing
XLIII Surely somehow, in some measure
XLIV O but my delicate lover
XLV Softer than the hill-fog to the forest
XLVI I seek and desire
XLVII Like torn sea-kelp in the drift
XLVIII Fine woven purple linen
XLIX When I am home from travel
L When I behold the pharos shine
LI Is the day long
LII Lo, on the distance a dark blue ravine
LIII Art thou the topmost apple
LIV How soon will all my lovely days be over
LV Soul of sorrow, why this weeping?
LVI It never can be mine
LVII Others shall behold the sun
LVIII Let thy strong spirit never fear
LIX Will none say of Sappho
LX When I have departed
LXI There is no more to say, now thou art still
LXII Play up, play up thy silver flute
LXIII A beautiful child is mine
LXIV Ah, but now henceforth
LXV Softly the wind moves through the radiant morning
LXVI What the west wind whispers
LXVII Indoors the fire is kindled
LXVIII You ask how love can keep the mortal soul
LXIX Like a tall forest were their spears
LXX My lover smiled, "O friend, ask not
LXXI Ye who have the stable world
LXXII I heard the gods reply
LXXIII The sun on the tide, the peach on the bough
LXXIV If death be good
LXXV Tell me what this life means
LXXVI Ye have heard how Marsyas
LXXVII Hour by hour I sit
LXXVIII Once in the shining street
LXXIX How strange is love, O my lover
LXXX How to say I love you
LXXXI Hark, love, to the tambourines
LXXXII Over the roofs the honey-coloured moon
LXXXIII In the quiet garden world
LXXXIV Soft was the wind in the beech-trees
LXXXV Have ye heard the news of Sappho's garden
LXXXVI Love is so strong a thing
LXXXVII Hadst thou with all thy loveliness been true
LXXXVIII As on a morn a traveller might emerge
LXXXIX Where shall I look for thee
XC O sad, sad face and saddest eyes that ever
XCI Why have the gods in derision
XCII Like a red lily in the meadow grasses
XCIII When in the spring the swallows all return
XCIV Cold is the wind where Daphne sleeps
XCV Hark, where Poseidon's
XCVI Hark, my lover, it is spring!
XCVII When the early soft spring-wind comes blowing
XCVIII I am more tremulous than shaken reeds
XCIX Over the wheat field
C Once more the rain on the mountain
Epilogue
SAPPHO
I
Cyprus, Paphos, or Panormus
May detain thee with their splendour
Of oblations on thine altars,
O imperial Aphrodite.
Yet do thou regard, with pity 5
For a nameless child of passion,
This small unfrequented valley
By the sea, O sea-born mother.
II
What shall we do, Cytherea?
Lovely Adonis is dying.
Ah, but we mourn him!
Will he return when the Autumn
Purples the earth, and the sunlight 5
Sleeps in the vineyard?
Will he return when the Winter
Huddles the sheep, and Orion
Goes to his hunting?
Ah, but thy beauty, Adonis, 10
With the soft spring and the south wind,
Love and desire!
III
Power and beauty and knowledge,--
Pan, Aphrodite, or Hermes,--
Whom shall we life-loving mortals
Serve and be happy?
Lo now, your garlanded altars, 5
Are they not goodly with flowers?
Have ye not honour and pleasure
In lovely Lesbos?
Will ye not, therefore, a little
Hearten, impel, and inspire 10
One who adores, with a favour
Threefold in wonder?
IV
O Pan of the evergreen forest,
Protector of herds in the meadows,
Helper of men at their toiling,--
Tillage and harvest and herding,--
How many times to frail mortals 5
Hast thou not hearkened!
Now even I come before thee
With oil and honey and wheat-bread,
Praying for strength and fulfilment
Of human longing, with purpose 10
Ever to keep thy great worship
Pure and undarkened.
* * * * *
O Hermes, master of knowledge,
Measure and number and rhythm,
Worker of wonders in metal, 15
Moulder of malleable music,
So often the giver of secret
Learning to mortals!
Now even I, a fond woman,
Frail and of small understanding, 20
Yet with unslakable yearning
Greatly desiring wisdom,
Come to the threshold of reason
And the bright portals.
* * * * *
And thou, sea-born Aphrodite, 25
In whose beneficent keeping
Earth, with her infinite beauty,
Colour and fashion and fragrance,
Glows like a flower with fervour
Where woods are vernal! 30
Touch with thy lips and enkindle
This moon-white delicate body,
Drench with the dew of enchantment
This mortal one, that I also
Grow to the measure of beauty 35
Fleet yet eternal.
V
O Aphrodite,
God-born and deathless,
Break not my spirit
With bitter anguish:
Thou wilful empress, 5
I pray thee, hither!
As once aforetime
Well thou didst hearken
To my voice far off,--
Listen, and leaving 10
Thy father's golden
House in yoked chariot,
Come, thy fleet sparrows
Beating the mid-air
Over the dark earth. 15
Suddenly near me,
Smiling, immortal,
Thy bright regard asked
What had befallen,--
Why I had called thee,-- 20
What my mad heart then
Most was desiring.
"What fair thing wouldst thou
Lure now to love thee?
"Who wrongs thee, Sappho? 25
If now she flies thee,
Soon shall she follow;--
Scorning thy gifts now,
Soon be the giver;--
And a loth loved one 30
"Soon be the lover. "
So even now, too,
Come and release me
From mordant love pain,
And all my heart's will 35
Help me accomplish!
VI
Peer of the gods he seems,
Who in thy presence
Sits and hears close to him
Thy silver speech-tones
And lovely laughter. 5
Ah, but the heart flutters
Under my bosom,
When I behold thee
Even a moment;
Utterance leaves me; 10
My tongue is useless;
A subtle fire
Runs through my body;
My eyes are sightless,
And my ears ringing; 15
I flush with fever,
And a strong trembling
Lays hold upon me;
Paler than grass am I,
Half dead for madness. 20
Yet must I, greatly
Daring, adore thee,
As the adventurous
Sailor makes seaward
For the lost sky-line 25
And undiscovered
Fabulous islands,
Drawn by the lure of
Beauty and summer
And the sea's secret. 30
VII
The Cyprian came to thy cradle,
When thou wast little and small,
And said to the nurse who rocked thee
"Fear not thou for the child:
"She shall be kindly favoured, 5
And fair and fashioned well,
As befits the Lesbian maidens
And those who are fated to love.
XXXV When the great pink mallow
XXXVI When I pass thy door at night
XXXVII Well I found you in the twilit garden
XXXVIII Will not men remember us
XXXIX I grow weary of the foreign cities
XL Ah, what detains thee, Phaon
XLI Phaon, O my lover
XLII O heart of insatiable longing
XLIII Surely somehow, in some measure
XLIV O but my delicate lover
XLV Softer than the hill-fog to the forest
XLVI I seek and desire
XLVII Like torn sea-kelp in the drift
XLVIII Fine woven purple linen
XLIX When I am home from travel
L When I behold the pharos shine
LI Is the day long
LII Lo, on the distance a dark blue ravine
LIII Art thou the topmost apple
LIV How soon will all my lovely days be over
LV Soul of sorrow, why this weeping?
LVI It never can be mine
LVII Others shall behold the sun
LVIII Let thy strong spirit never fear
LIX Will none say of Sappho
LX When I have departed
LXI There is no more to say, now thou art still
LXII Play up, play up thy silver flute
LXIII A beautiful child is mine
LXIV Ah, but now henceforth
LXV Softly the wind moves through the radiant morning
LXVI What the west wind whispers
LXVII Indoors the fire is kindled
LXVIII You ask how love can keep the mortal soul
LXIX Like a tall forest were their spears
LXX My lover smiled, "O friend, ask not
LXXI Ye who have the stable world
LXXII I heard the gods reply
LXXIII The sun on the tide, the peach on the bough
LXXIV If death be good
LXXV Tell me what this life means
LXXVI Ye have heard how Marsyas
LXXVII Hour by hour I sit
LXXVIII Once in the shining street
LXXIX How strange is love, O my lover
LXXX How to say I love you
LXXXI Hark, love, to the tambourines
LXXXII Over the roofs the honey-coloured moon
LXXXIII In the quiet garden world
LXXXIV Soft was the wind in the beech-trees
LXXXV Have ye heard the news of Sappho's garden
LXXXVI Love is so strong a thing
LXXXVII Hadst thou with all thy loveliness been true
LXXXVIII As on a morn a traveller might emerge
LXXXIX Where shall I look for thee
XC O sad, sad face and saddest eyes that ever
XCI Why have the gods in derision
XCII Like a red lily in the meadow grasses
XCIII When in the spring the swallows all return
XCIV Cold is the wind where Daphne sleeps
XCV Hark, where Poseidon's
XCVI Hark, my lover, it is spring!
XCVII When the early soft spring-wind comes blowing
XCVIII I am more tremulous than shaken reeds
XCIX Over the wheat field
C Once more the rain on the mountain
Epilogue
SAPPHO
I
Cyprus, Paphos, or Panormus
May detain thee with their splendour
Of oblations on thine altars,
O imperial Aphrodite.
Yet do thou regard, with pity 5
For a nameless child of passion,
This small unfrequented valley
By the sea, O sea-born mother.
II
What shall we do, Cytherea?
Lovely Adonis is dying.
Ah, but we mourn him!
Will he return when the Autumn
Purples the earth, and the sunlight 5
Sleeps in the vineyard?
Will he return when the Winter
Huddles the sheep, and Orion
Goes to his hunting?
Ah, but thy beauty, Adonis, 10
With the soft spring and the south wind,
Love and desire!
III
Power and beauty and knowledge,--
Pan, Aphrodite, or Hermes,--
Whom shall we life-loving mortals
Serve and be happy?
Lo now, your garlanded altars, 5
Are they not goodly with flowers?
Have ye not honour and pleasure
In lovely Lesbos?
Will ye not, therefore, a little
Hearten, impel, and inspire 10
One who adores, with a favour
Threefold in wonder?
IV
O Pan of the evergreen forest,
Protector of herds in the meadows,
Helper of men at their toiling,--
Tillage and harvest and herding,--
How many times to frail mortals 5
Hast thou not hearkened!
Now even I come before thee
With oil and honey and wheat-bread,
Praying for strength and fulfilment
Of human longing, with purpose 10
Ever to keep thy great worship
Pure and undarkened.
* * * * *
O Hermes, master of knowledge,
Measure and number and rhythm,
Worker of wonders in metal, 15
Moulder of malleable music,
So often the giver of secret
Learning to mortals!
Now even I, a fond woman,
Frail and of small understanding, 20
Yet with unslakable yearning
Greatly desiring wisdom,
Come to the threshold of reason
And the bright portals.
* * * * *
And thou, sea-born Aphrodite, 25
In whose beneficent keeping
Earth, with her infinite beauty,
Colour and fashion and fragrance,
Glows like a flower with fervour
Where woods are vernal! 30
Touch with thy lips and enkindle
This moon-white delicate body,
Drench with the dew of enchantment
This mortal one, that I also
Grow to the measure of beauty 35
Fleet yet eternal.
V
O Aphrodite,
God-born and deathless,
Break not my spirit
With bitter anguish:
Thou wilful empress, 5
I pray thee, hither!
As once aforetime
Well thou didst hearken
To my voice far off,--
Listen, and leaving 10
Thy father's golden
House in yoked chariot,
Come, thy fleet sparrows
Beating the mid-air
Over the dark earth. 15
Suddenly near me,
Smiling, immortal,
Thy bright regard asked
What had befallen,--
Why I had called thee,-- 20
What my mad heart then
Most was desiring.
"What fair thing wouldst thou
Lure now to love thee?
"Who wrongs thee, Sappho? 25
If now she flies thee,
Soon shall she follow;--
Scorning thy gifts now,
Soon be the giver;--
And a loth loved one 30
"Soon be the lover. "
So even now, too,
Come and release me
From mordant love pain,
And all my heart's will 35
Help me accomplish!
VI
Peer of the gods he seems,
Who in thy presence
Sits and hears close to him
Thy silver speech-tones
And lovely laughter. 5
Ah, but the heart flutters
Under my bosom,
When I behold thee
Even a moment;
Utterance leaves me; 10
My tongue is useless;
A subtle fire
Runs through my body;
My eyes are sightless,
And my ears ringing; 15
I flush with fever,
And a strong trembling
Lays hold upon me;
Paler than grass am I,
Half dead for madness. 20
Yet must I, greatly
Daring, adore thee,
As the adventurous
Sailor makes seaward
For the lost sky-line 25
And undiscovered
Fabulous islands,
Drawn by the lure of
Beauty and summer
And the sea's secret. 30
VII
The Cyprian came to thy cradle,
When thou wast little and small,
And said to the nurse who rocked thee
"Fear not thou for the child:
"She shall be kindly favoured, 5
And fair and fashioned well,
As befits the Lesbian maidens
And those who are fated to love.
