Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics | Page 4

regard asked
What had befallen,--?Why I had called thee,-- 20 What my mad heart then?Most was desiring.?"What fair thing wouldst thou?Lure now to love thee?
"Who wrongs thee, Sappho? 25 If now she flies thee,?Soon shall she follow;--?Scorning thy gifts now,?Soon be the giver;--?And a loth loved one 30
"Soon be the lover."?So even now, too,?Come and release me?From mordant love pain,?And all my heart's will 35 Help me accomplish!
VI
Peer of the gods he seems,?Who in thy presence?Sits and hears close to him?Thy silver speech-tones?And lovely laughter. 5
Ah, but the heart flutters?Under my bosom,?When I behold thee?Even a moment;?Utterance leaves me; 10
My tongue is useless;?A subtle fire?Runs through my body;?My eyes are sightless,?And my ears ringing; 15
I flush with fever,?And a strong trembling?Lays hold upon me;?Paler than grass am I,?Half dead for madness. 20
Yet must I, greatly?Daring, adore thee,?As the adventurous?Sailor makes seaward?For the lost sky-line 25
And undiscovered?Fabulous islands,?Drawn by the lure of?Beauty and summer?And the sea's secret. 30
VII
The Cyprian came to thy cradle,?When thou wast little and small,?And said to the nurse who rocked thee?"Fear not thou for the child:
"She shall be kindly favoured, 5 And fair and fashioned well,?As befits the Lesbian maidens?And those who are fated to love."
Hermes came to thy cradle,?Resourceful, sagacious, serene, 10 And said, "The girl must have knowledge,?To lend her freedom and poise.
Naught will avail her beauty,?If she have not wit beside.?She shall be Hermes' daughter, 15 Passing wise in her day."
Great Pan came to thy cradle,?With calm of the deepest hills,?And smiled, "They have forgotten?The veriest power of life. 20
"To kindle her shapely beauty,?And illumine her mind withal,?I give to the little person?The glowing and craving soul."
VIII
Aphrodite of the foam,?Who hast given all good gifts,?And made Sappho at thy will?Love so greatly and so much,
Ah, how comes it my frail heart 5 Is so fond of all things fair,?I can never choose between?Gorgo and Andromeda?
IX
Nay, but always and forever?Like the bending yellow grain,?Or quick water in a channel,?Is the heart of man.
Comes the unseen breath in power 5 Like a great wind from the sea,?And we bow before his coming,?Though we know not why.
X
Let there be garlands, Dica,?Around thy lovely hair.?And supple sprays of blossom?Twined by thy soft hands.
Whoso is crowned with flowers 5 Has favour with the gods,?Who have no kindly eyes?For the ungarlanded.
XI
When the Cretan maidens?Dancing up the full moon?Round some fair new altar,?Trample the soft blossoms of fine grass,
There is mirth among them. 5 Aphrodite's children?Ask her benediction?On their bridals in the summer night.
XII
In a dream I spoke with the Cyprus-born,?And said to her,?"Mother of beauty, mother of joy,?Why hast thou given to men
"This thing called love, like the ache of a wound 5 In beauty's, side,?To burn and throb and be quelled for an hour?And never wholly depart?"
And the daughter of Cyprus said to me,?"Child of the earth, 10 Behold, all things are born and attain,?But only as they desire,---
"The sun that is strong, the gods that are wise,?The loving heart,?Deeds and knowledge and beauty and joy,-- 15 But before all else was desire."
XIII
Sleep thou in the bosom?Of the tender comrade,?While the living water?Whispers in the well-run,?And the oleanders 5 Glimmer in the moonlight.
Soon, ah, soon the shy birds?Will be at their fluting,?And the morning planet?Rise above the garden; 10 For there is a measure?Set to all things mortal.
XIV
Hesperus, bringing together?All that the morning star scattered,--
Sheep to be folded in twilight,?Children for mothers to fondle,--
Me too will bring to the dearest, 5 Tenderest breast in all Lesbos.
XV
In the grey olive-grove a small brown bird?Had built her nest and waited for the spring.?But who could tell the happy thought that came?To lodge beneath my scarlet tunic's fold?
All day long now is the green earth renewed 5 With the bright sea-wind and the yellow blossoms.?From the cool shade I hear the silver plash?Of the blown fountain at the garden's end.
XVI
In the apple boughs the coolness?Murmurs, and the grey leaves flicker?Where sleep wanders.
In this garden all the hot noon?I await thy fluttering footfall 5 Through the twilight.
XVII
Pale rose leaves have fallen?In the fountain water;?And soft reedy flute-notes?Pierce the sultry quiet.
But I wait and listen, 5 Till the trodden gravel?Tells me, all impatience,?It is Phaon's footstep.
XVIII
The courtyard of her house is wide?And cool and still when day departs.?Only the rustle of leaves is there?And running water.
And then her mouth, more delicate 5 Than the frail wood-anemone,?Brushes my cheek, and deeper grow?The purple shadows.
XIX
There is a medlar-tree?Growing in front of my lover's house,?And there all day?The wind makes a pleasant sound.
And when the evening comes, 5 We sit there together in the dusk,?And watch the stars?Appear in the quiet blue.
XX
I behold Arcturus going westward?Down the crowded slope of night-dark azure,?While the Scorpion with red Antares?Trails along the sea-line to the southward.
From the ilex grove there comes soft laughter,-- 5 My companions at their glad love-making,--?While that