The Complete Poems of Sappho
Page 5
took you from heaven down to mid sky
over the black earth
and soon arrived. O blessed one,
on your deathless face a smile,
you asked me what I am suffering
and why I call you,
what I most want to happen
in my crazy heart. “Whom shall I persuade
again to take you into her love? Who,
O Psapfo, wrongs you?
If she runs away, soon she will pursue.
If she scorns gifts, now she will bribe.
If she doesn’t love, soon she will love
even unwillingly.”
Come to me now and loosen me
from blunt agony. Labor
and fill my heart with fire. Stand by me
and be my ally.
[1]
Afroditi of the Flowers at Knossos
Leave Kriti and come here to this holy
temple with your graceful grove
of apple trees and altars smoking
with frankincense.
Icy water babbles through apple branches
and roses leave shadow on the ground
and bright shaking leaves pour down
profound sleep.
Here is a meadow where horses graze
amid wild blossoms of the spring and soft winds
blow aroma
of honey. Afroditi, take the nectar
and delicately pour it into gold
wine cups and mingle joy with
our celebration.
[2]
Moon and Women
The moon appeared in her fullness
when women took their place around the altar
[154]
Dancers at a Kritan Altar
Kritan women once danced supplely
around a beautiful altar with light feet,
crushing the soft flowers of grass.
[16 INCERT.]
In Time of Storm
Brightness
and with good luck
we will reach the harbor
and black earth
We sailors have no will
in big blasts of wind,
hoping for dry land
and to sail
our cargo
floating about
Many
labors
until dry land
[20]
To Lady Hera
Be near me Lady Hera while I pray
for your graceful form to appear,
to which the sons of Atreus prayed,
those dazzling kings
who did bountiful deeds,
first at Troy, then on the sea,
but sailing the road to this island,
they could not reach it
till they called on you and Zeus god of suppliants,
and Dionysos lovely son of Thyoni.
Now be gentle and help me too
as in old days,
holy and beautiful
virgin
in circles
to sail safely
to the shrine
[17]
Invitation
Invitation for one
not all
to come to a feast
for Hera accomplishing
as long
as
I am alive
[9]
Sacrifice
To you I will pour wine
over flesh of a white goat
[40 INCERT. (13)]
Death of Adonis
Afroditi, delicate Adonis is dying.
What should we do?
Virgins, beat your breasts
and tear your garments.
[140]
Adonis Gone
O for Adonis!
[168]
To Afroditi
O gold-crowned Afroditi,
if only I could win this lot!
[33]
Afroditi
Queen
to you
a horse
[87e, f]
Afroditi to Psapfo
Both you Psapfo and my servant Eros
[159]
Days of Harshness
Quiet
Zeus
of the goatskin shield
and Kythereia
I pray
holding a good heart,
and if ever
like other days when you left Kypros,
hear my prayer
and come
to my
severities
[86]
Artemis on Solitary Mountains
Gold-haired Phoebus borne by Koios’s daughter
after she joined with Kronos’s son Zeus god of high clouds
and high name.
Artemis swore the great oath of the gods to Zeus:
“By your head, I shall always be a virgin
untamed, hunting on peaks of solitary mountains.
Come, grant me this grace!”
So she spoke. Then the father of the blessed gods
nodded his consent. Now gods and mortals
call her by her thrilling eponym, The Virgin Deer Hunter.
Eros, loosener of limbs, never comes near her
[44a]
Artemis
blame
delicate
Artemis
[84]
NIGHTINGALE
Evening Star
Hesperos, you bring home all the bright dawn
scattered,
bring home the sheep,
bring home the goat, bring the child home
to her mother.
[104a]
Hesperos
Of all stars the most beautiful
[104b]
Moon
Stars around the beautiful moon
conceal their luminous form
when in her fullness she shines
on the earth
in silver
[34]
Earth
Earth is embroidered
with rainbow-colored garlands
[168c]
Nightingale
Nightingale with your lovely voice
you are the herald of spring
[136]
Cicada
Flaming summer
charms the earth with its own fluting,
and under leaves
the cicada scrapes its tiny wings together
and incessantly
pours out full shrill song
[101a]
Doves Playing Dead
When their souls grew cold they dropped
their wings to their sides
[42]
Of Gello Who Died Young, Whose Ghost Haunts Little Children
She was even fonder
of children than Gello.
[178]
World
I could not hope
to touch the sky
with my two arms
[52]
Eos
Lady Dawn
[157]
Dawn
Suddenly
Dawn in gold sandals
[123]
WALKING TO A WEDDING
Hair Yellower Than Torch Flame
My mother used to say
in her youth
it was a great ornament to wear
a purple ribbon
looped in her hair. But a girl
with hair yellower than torch flame
need wear just
a wreath of blooming
flowers, or lately maybe
a colorful headband
from Sardis
or some Ionian city
[98a]
Time of Youth
You will
remember
we did these things
in our youth,
many and beautiful things.
In the city
for us the harsh
We live
opposite
a daring
person
stone foundation
thin-voiced
[24a, b, c]
Of a Young Lover
When I was young I wove garlands
[125]
My Daughter
I have a beautiful child like a gold flower
in form. I wouldn’t trade
my darling Kleis for all Lydia or lovely . . .
[132]
Wildflowers
A tender girl picking wildflowers
[122]
The Virgin
Like a sweet apple reddening on a high branch,
on the tip of the topmost branch and forgotten
by the apple pickers—no, beyond their reach.
Like a hyacinth in the mountains that shepherd men
trample down with their feet, and on the earth
the purple flower
[105a, c]
Girl
A sweet-voiced girl
[153]
Remorse
Do I still long for my virginity?
[107]
Words with Virginity
Virginity, virginity, where have you gone, leaving me
abandoned?
No longer will I come to you. No longer will I come.
[114]
The Lyre Speaks
Tell of the bride with beautiful feet
let Artemis
the violet-robed daughter of Zeus
let the violet-robed put aside her anger.
Come holy Graces and Pierian Muses
when songs are in the heart
listening to a clear song
The bridegroom annoying companions
her hair placing the lyre
Dawn with gold sandals
[103]
Wedding of Andromache and Hektor
From Kypros
a herald came
Idaos the swift-running Trojan messenger
telling of the wedding’s imperishable fame in all Asia:
“Hektor and his companions are bringing dancing-eyed
delicate Andromache on ships over the salt sea
from holy Thibai and Plakia’s flowing waters
along with many gold bracelets and purple
fragrant clothes, exquisite adornments
and countless silver cups and ivory.”
He spoke, and Hektor’s dear father sprang to his feet
and news spread to friends throughout the spacious city.
Instantly the sons of Ilos, founder of Troy,
yoked mules to carriages with smooth-running wheels,
and a whole crowd of women and slender-ankled virgins
climbed aboard.
The daughters of Priamos came in their own carts,
and young unmarried men yoked stallions to chariots.
In great spirit
charioteers
moved like gods
holy all together
and set out for Ilion
in a confusion of sweet-voiced flutes and kithara
and small crashing castanets,
and young virgins sang a loud heavenly song
whose amazing echo pierced the ether of the sky.
Everywhere in the streets
were bowls and cups.
Myrrh and cassia and frankincense rode on the wind.
Old women shouted in happiness
and all the men sang out with thrilling force,
calling on far-shooting Paean Apollo nimble on the lyre
and sang to godlike Hektor and Andromache.
[44]
Walking to a Wedding
Yes you were once a child
come sing these things
talk to us and give us
your grace
We are walking to a wedding, and surely
you know too, but quickly as you can
send the young virgins away. May gods
have
Yet for men road to
great Olympos
[27]
Song to the Groom
What are you like, lovely bridegroom?
You are most like a slender sapling.
[115]
Song for the Bride
O bridegroom, there is no other woman now
like her
[113]
Lesbian Bride
O beautiful, O graceful girl
[108]
Guarding the Bride
Take care of her
O bridegrooms
O kings of cities!
[161]
Chamber
Room
the bride with her beautiful feet
now
for me
[103b]
Hermis at a Wedding
There a bowl of ambrosia
was mixed, and Hermis
took the jug and poured wine for the gods
and then they all
held out cups and poured
libations and prayed for all blessings
for the groom.
[141a, b]
Fragments
Carry
Arheanassa
once
in lovely
heard
virgins
of the springs
[103C, a, b]
To Hymen, Wedding God
High! Raise the roof!
O Hymen.
Lift it up, carpenters!
O Hymen.
The bridegroom is coming, the equal of Aris,
O Hymen.
taller than a giant!
O Hymen!
[111]
Song to Groom and Bride
Happy groom, your marriage you prayed for
has happened. You have the virgin bride
of your prayer.
You the bride are a form of grace,
your eyes honey.
Desire rains on your exquisite face.
Afroditi has honored you exceedingly
[112]
Night Song
Night
Virgins
will all night long sing
of the love between you and your bride
in her violet robe.
Wake and call out young men
of your age,
and tonight we shall sleep less than
the bright-voiced nightingale
[30]
A Guard outside the Bridal Chamber, Who Keeps the Bride’s Friends from Rescuing Her
The doorkeeper’s feet are seven fathoms long.
It took five oxhides for his sandals
and ten shoemakers to cobble them together.
[110]
End of a Party
Beautiful
he throws peace into frenzy
and exhaustion and dumbs the mind.
Sitting
But come, my friends.
Soon daybreak.
[43 (lines 3–9)]
YOU BURN US
Seizure
To me he seems equal to gods,
the man who sits facing you
and hears you near as you speak
softly and laugh
in a sweet echo that jolts
the heart in my ribs. Now
when I look at you a moment
my voice is empty
and can say nothing as my tongue
cracks and slender fire races
under my skin. My eyes are dead
to light, my ears
pound, and sweat pours over me.
I convulse, greener than grass
and feel my mind slip as I go
close to death.
Yet I must suffer, even poor
[31]
Alone
The moon has set and
the Pleiades. Middle
of the night, time spins
away and I lie alone.
[168b]
Emptiness
Never have I found you more repulsive,
O Irana.
[91]
E
ros
Love shook my heart like wind
on a mountain punishing oak trees.
[47]
Love
Eros came out of heaven,
dressed in a purple cape
[54]
Supreme Sight on the Black Earth
Some say cavalry and others claim
infantry or a fleet of long oars
is the supreme sight on the black earth.
I say it is
the one you love. And easily proved.
Didn’t Helen, who far surpassed
all in beauty, desert the best of men
her husband and king
and sail off to Troy and forget
her daughter and dear parents? Merely
love’s gaze made her bend
and led her
from her path.
These tales
remind me now of Anaktoria
who is gone.
And I would rather see her supple step
and motion of light on her face
than chariots of the Lydians or ranks
of foot soldiers in bronze.
Now this is impossible
yet among the living I pray for a share
unexpectedly.
[16]
To Eros