The Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into EnglishSappho
General
The Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English
Sappho
Lesbos (Greece : Municipality) -- Poetry; Sappho -- Translations into English; Women -- Greece -- Poetry
Gorgo, I am weary
Of thy love's insistence,
And my strength exhausted
Grants thy wish at last.
MNASIDICA
Set, O Dica, garlands on thy lovely
Glinting mass of fine and golden tresses,
Sprays of dill with fingers soft entwining
While I stand apart to better judge.
Those who have fair wreaths about the forehead,
Breathing brentheian odor to the senses,
Ever first find favor with the Graces
Who from wreathless suppliants turn away.
Dica, Mnasidica, thou art shapely
With the flowing curves of Aphrodite;
Eyes the color of her azure ocean
Washing wide on Cyprus' languid shore.
In thy every movement grace unconscious
Sways the rhythmic poem of thy body,
Charming with elusive undulation
Like a splendid lily in the wind.
As I stand apart to judge the better
Fair effects that roses add to beauty,
All thy rays of loveliness concentered
Sun me till I swoon with swift desire.
TELESIPPA
Sleep thou in the bosom
Of thy tender girl friend,
Telesippa, gentle
Maiden from Miletus.
Like twin petals shyly
Closing to the darkness,
Dewy on your drooping
Lids shall fall her kisses.
While her arms enfold you,
On your drowsy senses
Shall her soft caresses
Seal delicious languor.
Warm from her desireful
Heart the flush of passion
On your cheek unconscious,
With her sighs shall deepen.
All the long sweet night-time,
Sleepless while you slumber,
She shall lie and quiver
With her love's mad longing.
GYRINNO
Now the silver crescent
Of the moon has vanished,
With the golden Pleiads
Drifting down the west.
It is after midnight
And the time is passing,
Hours we pledged to passion
And I sleep alone.
Anger ill becomes thee,
Tender-souled Gyrinno,
Shapelier is Dica
But less loved by me.
Art thou still relentless,
Wilful one, annulling
All thy protestations
In the fervid past?
Can it, O Charites,
Be thou hast forgotten?
Dost thou love another,
Even now, perchance?
Ah, my tears are falling,
Yet in my despairing
Mood I lie and listen
For thy furtive step;
For the lightest rustle
Of thy flowing garment,
For thy sweet and panting
Whisper at the door.
Now the moon has vanished
With the golden Pleiads;
It is after midnight
And I sleep alone.
MEGARA
Thou burnest us, Megara,
With thy passions wild;
Bringing from Panormus
Such unbridled fires.
Thou burnest us, a supple
Flow of tortured flame,
Raging, biting, searing,
Lawless of the will.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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