Sappho

[Dark Muse]

Prayer to my lady of Paphos 

Dapple-throned Aphrodite,
eternal daughter of God,
snare-knitter! Don't, I beg
        you,

cow my heart with grief!
       Come,
as once when you heard my
       far-
off cry and, listening,
      stepped

from your father's house to your
gold car, to yoke the pair whose
beautiful thick-feathered wings

oaring down mid-air from heaven
carried you to light swiftly
on dark earth; than, blissful one,

smiling your immortal smile
you asked, What ailed me now that
made me call you again? What 

was is that my distracted 
heart most wanted?  "Whom has 
Persuasion to bring round now 

"to your love? Who, Sappho, is
unfair to you? For, let her 
run, she will soon run after;

"if she won't accept gifts, she
will one day give them; and if 
she won't love you- she soon will

"love although unwillingly...."
If ever-come now! Relieve
this intolerable pain!

What my heart most hopes will
happen, make happen; you your-
self join forces my side!

[crystalmoonshin]

In the spring twilight

The full moon shining:
Girls take thier places
as through around an altar

Wow, this is nice. If we rearrange it into this:

The full moon shining:
As through around an altar
Girls take their places

it becomes a haiku!!!

[alakungfu]

I would consider this a very lovely poem:



Please


Come back to me, Gongyla, here tonight,
You, my rose, with your Lydian lyre.
There hovers forever around you delight:
A beauty desired.

Even your garment plunders my eyes.
I am enchanted: I who once
Complained to the Cyprus-born goddess,
Whom I now beseech

Never to let this lose me grace
But rather bring you back to me:
Amongst all mortal women the one
I most wish to see.


--Translated by Paul Roche

[alakungfu]

And this poem is very effective for all its brevity;



To Andromeda


That country girl has witched your wishes,
all dressed up in her country clothes
and she hasn't got the sense
to hitch her rags above her ankles.


--Translated by Jim Powell

[alakungfu]

And what subject is harder to broach in poietry than mixed feelings?



"On the throne of many hues, Immortal Aphrodite"


On the throne of many hues, Immortal Aphrodite,
child of Zeus, weaving wiles--I beg you
not to subdue my spirit, Queen,
with pain or sorrow

but come--if ever before
having heard my voice from far away
you listened, and leaving your father's
golden home you came

in your chariot yoked with swift, lovely
sparrows bringing you over the dark earth
thick-feathered wings swirling down
from the sky through mid-air

arriving quickly--you, Blessed One,
with a smile on your unaging face
asking again what have I suffered
and why am I calling again

and in my wild heart what did I most wish
to happen to me: "Again whom must I persuade
back into the harness of your love?
Sappho, who wrongs you?

For if she flees, soon she'll pursue,
she doesn't accept gifts, but she'll give,
if not now loving, soon she'll love
even against her will."

Come to me now again, release me from
this pain, everything my spirit longs
to have fulfilled, fulfill, and you
be my ally


--Translated by Diane Rayor

[Dark Muse]

Ok this one is my all time favorite of hers. I just LOVE this one.

He is more than a hero

He is a god in my eyes-
the man who is allowed
to sit beside you-he

who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice, the enticing

laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can't

speak-my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,

hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body

and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn't far from me.

[Dark Muse]

Yes, Atthis, you may be sure

                 Even in Sardis 
Anactoria will think often 
      of us

of the life we shared here,
         when you seemed
the Goddess incarnate
to her and your singing
       pleased her best 

Now among Lydian women she in her 
turn stands first as the red-
fingered moon rising at sunset takes

precedence over stars around her;
her light spreads equally
on the salt sea and fields thick with
      bloom

Delicious dew pours down to freshen
roses, delicate thyme
and blossoming sweet clover; she
      wanders

aimlessly, thinking of gentle 
Atthis, her heart hanging
heavy with longing in her little breast

She shouts aloud, Come! we know it;
thousand eared-night repeats that cry
across the sea shinning between us

[Dark Muse]

To an army wife, in Sardis:

Some say cavalry corps,
some infantry, some, again,
will maintain that the swift 
          oars 

of our fleet are the finest 
sight on dark earth; but I say 
that whatever one loves, is.

This is easily proved: did 
not Helen-she who had 
        scanned 
the flower of world's 
manhood-

choose as first among men one
who laid Tory's honor ruin?
warped to his will, forgetting 

love due her own blood, her own
child, she wandered far with him.
So Anactoria, although you 

being far away forget us,
the dear sound of your footstep
and light glancing in your eyes

would move me more than glitter 
Lydian horse or armored 
tread of mainland infantry

[ShoutGrace]

Ok this one is my all time favorite of hers. I just LOVE this one.

He is more than a hero

He is a god in my eyes-
the man who is allowed
to sit beside you-he

who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice, the enticing

laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can't

speak-my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,

hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body

and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn't far from me.

This can provide a constructive example of how varied translations can be. I also admire this poem, but I discovered it in this form:



“There's a man I really believe’s in heaven,
-over there, that man. To be sitting near you,
knee to knee so close to you, hear your voice, your
cozy low laughter,
close to you - enough in the very thought to
put my heart at once to palpitation.
I, come face to face with you on a sudden,
stand in a stupor:
tongue a lump, unable to lift; elusive
little flames play over the skin and smoulder
under. Eyes go blind in a flash; and ears hear
only their own din.
Head to toe I'm cold with a sudden moisture;
Knees are faint; my cheeks, in an instant, drain to
pale as grass. I think to myself, the end? I'm
really going under?

Well, endure is all I can do . . .”

[Dark Muse]

Wow that is quite different, though I have to admit to prefering my translation over that one. But it reads almost like a different poem even though shares roughly the same sentiment.

[ShoutGrace]

It took me a moment to realize that it was the same poem. I agree that with respect to their mechanics, the poems differ greatly . . . but I think the “sentiment” of each translation is equivalent. Were it not, one or both of the translators would have failed badly in their endeavors .

[stlukesguild]

I just purchased a third translation of Sapho's poetry... somewhat phenomenal considering the fragmentary state of her work. I've owned the Mary Barnard translation for years. A couple years ago I purchased the Anne Carson translation which lends a rather post-modern voice to the poet Sappho as she insists on retaining the fragmentary state of the works and adding nothing... surmising nothing... that was not there. Today I picked up a newer translation (2006) by Willis Barnstone. I'll try to post a few examples over the nest few days or so.

[Dark Muse]

I have to say I love Mary Barnard's interpritation of the work.

While it is an interesting concept of keeping the work in its fragmeneted state and preusuming nothing, I do not like that Post-modern feel it has when you read it. It just does not feel as fluid or passionate.

[JBI]

Wow, this is nice. If we rearrange it into this:

The full moon shining:
As through around an altar
Girls take their places

it becomes a haiku!!!

Full
Moon
Shining
Alter
Girls
Take
Places
Around

Now it's a mock 8 character poem.

Just shows you how you can reduce language yet still retain the comprehension. I think the poem is still readable, but you could play with it further:

Around Alter Girls Take their Places;
The full moon

or perhaps if I was creative, and not limited to the format on the forum (it is almost impossible to get indents in) I could have broken girls up into letters, and quite literally around the alter. I'll try anyway, just

Shining...Full...Moon
...............g
....i......Alter........s
..........r.......l


Or something like that. And now I know I have been reading too much.

[Dark Muse]

I have 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 mat girls with
all they most wished for beside
them

"while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring
without song..."