Friday, May 17, 2019

THE RETURN OF SAPPHO ~










STANDING BY MY BED



In gold sandals

Dawn that very

moment awoke me









AT NOONTIME



When the earth is

bright with flaming

heat falling straight down



the cricket sets

up a high-pitched

singing in his wings









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









AWED BY HER SPLENDOR



Stars near the lovely

moon cover their own

bright faces

                       when she

is roundest and lights

earth with her silver









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. . ."









THANK YOU, M DEAR



You came, and you did

well to come: I needed

you. You have made



love blaze up in

my breast — bless you!

Bless you as often



as the hours have

been endless to me

while you were gone









YOU MAY FORGET BUT



Let me tell you

this: someone in

some future time

will think of us









PAIN PENETRATES



Me drop

by drop









I HEAR THAT ANDROMEDA —



That hayseed in her hay-

seed finery — has put

a torch to your heart



and she without even

the art of lifting her

skirt over her ankles









YOU REMIND ME



Of a very gentle

little girl I once

watched picking flowers









_________________

Sappho
a new translation by
Mary Barnard
Wesleyan 2019