I took my lyre and said
I took my lyre and said:
Come now, my heavenly
tortoise shell: become
a speaking instrument
The Muses
It is the Muses
who have caused me
to be honred: they
taught me their craft
Sappho
tr. Barnard
The Silver Moon
The silver moon is set;
The Pleiades are gone;
Half the long night is spent, and yet
I lie alone.
Leto and Niobe
Before they were mothers
Leto and Niobe
had been the most
devoted of friends
Sappho
tr. Barnard
In the spring twilight
In the spring twilight
the full moon is shining:
Girls take their places
as though around an altar
I have no complaint
I have no complaint
prosperity that
the golden Muses
gave me was no
delusion: dead, I
won't be forgotten
With his venom
With his venom
irresistible
and bittersweet
that loosener
of limbs, Love
reptile-like
strikes me down
I took my lyre
I took my lyre and said:
Come now, my heavenly
tortoise shell: become
a speaking instrument
Sappho
tr. Barnard
We know this much
We know this much
Death is an evil;
we have the gods'
word for it; they too
would die if death
were a good thing
Loneliness
Set are the Pleiades; the Moon is down
And midnight dark on high.
The hours, the hours, drift by,
And here I lie,
Alone