Sappho,
Sappho: A New Rendering
“ Men call her the greatest lyric poet that the world has known, basing their judgment on the few perfect fragments that remain of her song. But her voice is more than the voice of a lyric poet, it is the voice of a world that has been, of a freshness and beauty that will never be again, and to give that voice a last touch of charm remains the fact that it comes to us as an echo. ”
Sappho,
Sappho: A New Rendering
“ But Love, half veiled by broken words and tears. You! you! who left me without kiss or tear Or word, to murmur softly like a child Begotten of thy voice, deception were Less cruel far than silence, you who smiled Falsely so often, had you no false phrase— You who so often had false tales to tell— No voice there, at the parting of our ways, To say "Farewell, O Love!" or just "Farewell"! I had no gift to give you when you passed, And wrongs were all the gifts received from thee, I had no words to tell you at the last But these: "Forgo not life, forget not me." ”
Sappho,
Sappho: A New Rendering
“ Boldly and wild his music finds its star. Unto the human does my voice belong And Aphrodite smiles on me from far. Have I no charms? has genius lost her touch To turn simplicity to beauty's zone? Am I so small, whose towering height is such That in the world of men I stand alone? Yea, I am brown—an Æthiopian's face Turned Perseus from his path, a flame of fire. ”
