No Word
Sappho
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...''
Sappho
tr. Barnard
