If Not, Winter

In my English 395 class, we’re reading poetry by Sappho.
Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos in approximately 630 B.C. She was a well known female poet in her time, but unfortunately much of her work has been lost, or severely damaged. To complicate matters, her works have been translated from Greek to English. I’ve been focusing on the literature which has been pieced together from the remains. Many of the poems are very short; some only a single word in length, but I find that often those can be the most intriguing. The following are my favourite poems from Sappho’s fragments:



I conversed with you in a dream




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Some men say an army of horse and some men say an army on foot and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing on the black earth
But I say it is
What you love


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Frequently
For those
I treat well are the ones who most of all harm me
Crazy
You, I want
To suffer
In myself I am aware of this


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Stars around the beautiful moon
Hide back their luminous form
Whenever all full she shines
On earth

Silvery


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You come and I was crazy for you
And you cooled my mind that burned with longing


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For the man who is beautiful is beautiful to see
But the good man will at once also beautiful be


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Sometimes at sunset
The rosefingered moon
Surpasses all the stars
And her light
Stretches over salt-sea
Equally and flowerdeep fields

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But I am not someone who likes to wound rather I have a quiet mind

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But me, you have forgotten or you love someone more than me


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Lady Dawn