LVI
It never can be mine
To sit in the door in the sun
And watch the world go by,
A pageant and a dream;
For I was born for love, 5
And fashioned for desire,
Beauty, passion, and joy,
And sorrow and unrest;
And with all things of earth
Eternally must go, 10
Daring the perilous bourn
Of joyance and of death,
A strain of song by night,
A shadow on the hill,
A hint of odorous grass, 15
A murmur of the sea.
It never can be mine
To sit in the door in the sun
And watch the world go by,
A pageant and a dream;
For I was born for love, 5
And fashioned for desire,
Beauty, passion, and joy,
And sorrow and unrest;
And with all things of earth
Eternally must go, 10
Daring the perilous bourn
Of joyance and of death,
A strain of song by night,
A shadow on the hill,
A hint of odorous grass, 15
A murmur of the sea.
Sappho
), to voyage no more.
LIII
Art thou the top-most apple
The gatherers could not reach,
Reddening on the bough?
Shall not I take thee?
Art thou a hyacinth blossom 5
The shepherds upon the hills
Have trodden into the ground?
Shall not I lift thee?
Free is the young god Eros,
Paying no tribute to power, 10
Seeing no evil in beauty,
Full of compassion.
Once having found the beloved,
However sorry or woeful,
However scornful of loving, 15
Little it matters.
LIV
How soon will all my lovely days be over,
And I no more be found beneath the sun,--
Neither beside the many-murmuring sea,
Nor where the plain-winds whisper to the reeds,
Nor in the tall beech-woods among the hills 5
Where roam the bright-lipped Oreads, nor along
The pasture-sides where berry-pickers stray
And harmless shepherds pipe their sheep to fold!
For I am eager, and the flame of life
Burns quickly in the fragile lamp of clay. 10
Passion and love and longing and hot tears
Consume this mortal Sappho, and too soon
A great wind from the dark will blow upon me,
And I be no more found in the fair world,
For all the search of the revolving moon 15
And patient shine of everlasting stars.
LV
Soul of sorrow, why this weeping?
What immortal grief hath touched thee
With the poignancy of sadness,--
Testament of tears?
Have the high gods deigned to show thee 5
Destiny, and disillusion
Fills thy heart at all things human,
Fleeting and desired?
Nay, the gods themselves are fettered
By one law which links together 10
Truth and nobleness and beauty,
Man and stars and sea.
And they only shall find freedom
Who with courage rise and follow
Where love leads beyond all peril, 15
Wise beyond all words.
LVI
It never can be mine
To sit in the door in the sun
And watch the world go by,
A pageant and a dream;
For I was born for love, 5
And fashioned for desire,
Beauty, passion, and joy,
And sorrow and unrest;
And with all things of earth
Eternally must go, 10
Daring the perilous bourn
Of joyance and of death,
A strain of song by night,
A shadow on the hill,
A hint of odorous grass, 15
A murmur of the sea.
LVII
Others shall behold the sun
Through the long uncounted years,--
Not a maid in after time
Wise as thou!
For the gods have given thee
Their best gift, an equal mind 5
That can only love, be glad,
And fear not.
LVIII
Let thy strong spirit never fear,
Nor in thy virgin soul be thou afraid.
The gods themselves and the almightier fates
Cannot avail to harm
With outward and misfortunate chance 5
The radiant unshaken mind of him
Who at his being's centre will abide,
Secure from doubt and fear.
His wise and patient heart shall share
The strong sweet loveliness of all things made, 10
And the serenity of inward joy
Beyond the storm of tears.
LIX
Will none say of Sappho,
Speaking of her lovers,
And the love they gave her,--
Joy and days and beauty,
Flute-playing and roses, 5
Song and wine and laughter,--
Will none, musing, murmur,
"Yet, for all the roses,
All the flutes and lovers,
Doubt not she was lonely 10
As the sea, whose cadence
Haunts the world for ever. "
LX
When I have departed,
Say but this behind me,
"Love was all her wisdom,
All her care.
"Well she kept love's secret,-- 5
Dared and never faltered,--
Laughed and never doubted
Love would win.
"Let the world's rough triumph
Trample by above her, 10
She is safe forever
From all harm.
"In a land that knows not
Bitterness nor sorrow,
She has found out all 15
Of truth at last. "
LXI
There is no more to say now thou art still,
There is no more to do now thou art dead,
There is no more to know now thy clear mind
Is back returned unto the gods who gave it.
Now thou art gone the use of life is past, 5
The meaning and the glory and the pride,
There is no joyous friend to share the day,
And on the threshold no awaited shadow.
LXII
Play up, play up thy silver flute;
The crickets all are brave;
Glad is the red autumnal earth
And the blue sea.
Play up thy flawless silver flute; 5
Dead ripe are fruit and grain.
When love puts on his scarlet coat,
Put off thy care.
LIII
Art thou the top-most apple
The gatherers could not reach,
Reddening on the bough?
Shall not I take thee?
Art thou a hyacinth blossom 5
The shepherds upon the hills
Have trodden into the ground?
Shall not I lift thee?
Free is the young god Eros,
Paying no tribute to power, 10
Seeing no evil in beauty,
Full of compassion.
Once having found the beloved,
However sorry or woeful,
However scornful of loving, 15
Little it matters.
LIV
How soon will all my lovely days be over,
And I no more be found beneath the sun,--
Neither beside the many-murmuring sea,
Nor where the plain-winds whisper to the reeds,
Nor in the tall beech-woods among the hills 5
Where roam the bright-lipped Oreads, nor along
The pasture-sides where berry-pickers stray
And harmless shepherds pipe their sheep to fold!
For I am eager, and the flame of life
Burns quickly in the fragile lamp of clay. 10
Passion and love and longing and hot tears
Consume this mortal Sappho, and too soon
A great wind from the dark will blow upon me,
And I be no more found in the fair world,
For all the search of the revolving moon 15
And patient shine of everlasting stars.
LV
Soul of sorrow, why this weeping?
What immortal grief hath touched thee
With the poignancy of sadness,--
Testament of tears?
Have the high gods deigned to show thee 5
Destiny, and disillusion
Fills thy heart at all things human,
Fleeting and desired?
Nay, the gods themselves are fettered
By one law which links together 10
Truth and nobleness and beauty,
Man and stars and sea.
And they only shall find freedom
Who with courage rise and follow
Where love leads beyond all peril, 15
Wise beyond all words.
LVI
It never can be mine
To sit in the door in the sun
And watch the world go by,
A pageant and a dream;
For I was born for love, 5
And fashioned for desire,
Beauty, passion, and joy,
And sorrow and unrest;
And with all things of earth
Eternally must go, 10
Daring the perilous bourn
Of joyance and of death,
A strain of song by night,
A shadow on the hill,
A hint of odorous grass, 15
A murmur of the sea.
LVII
Others shall behold the sun
Through the long uncounted years,--
Not a maid in after time
Wise as thou!
For the gods have given thee
Their best gift, an equal mind 5
That can only love, be glad,
And fear not.
LVIII
Let thy strong spirit never fear,
Nor in thy virgin soul be thou afraid.
The gods themselves and the almightier fates
Cannot avail to harm
With outward and misfortunate chance 5
The radiant unshaken mind of him
Who at his being's centre will abide,
Secure from doubt and fear.
His wise and patient heart shall share
The strong sweet loveliness of all things made, 10
And the serenity of inward joy
Beyond the storm of tears.
LIX
Will none say of Sappho,
Speaking of her lovers,
And the love they gave her,--
Joy and days and beauty,
Flute-playing and roses, 5
Song and wine and laughter,--
Will none, musing, murmur,
"Yet, for all the roses,
All the flutes and lovers,
Doubt not she was lonely 10
As the sea, whose cadence
Haunts the world for ever. "
LX
When I have departed,
Say but this behind me,
"Love was all her wisdom,
All her care.
"Well she kept love's secret,-- 5
Dared and never faltered,--
Laughed and never doubted
Love would win.
"Let the world's rough triumph
Trample by above her, 10
She is safe forever
From all harm.
"In a land that knows not
Bitterness nor sorrow,
She has found out all 15
Of truth at last. "
LXI
There is no more to say now thou art still,
There is no more to do now thou art dead,
There is no more to know now thy clear mind
Is back returned unto the gods who gave it.
Now thou art gone the use of life is past, 5
The meaning and the glory and the pride,
There is no joyous friend to share the day,
And on the threshold no awaited shadow.
LXII
Play up, play up thy silver flute;
The crickets all are brave;
Glad is the red autumnal earth
And the blue sea.
Play up thy flawless silver flute; 5
Dead ripe are fruit and grain.
When love puts on his scarlet coat,
Put off thy care.
