urn:lj:scribbld.com:atom1:manyminded but alone I lie surlybird@gmail.com Ilana Saffa 2010-03-23T04:53:56Z urn:lj:scribbld.com:atom1:manyminded:441 2010-03-23T04:48:16Z 2010-03-23T04:53:56Z I have not had one word from her<br /><br />Frankly I wish I were dead<br />When she left, she wept<br /><br />a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be<br />endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."<br /><br />I said, "Go, and be happy<br />but remember (you know<br />well) whom you leave shackled by love<br /><br />"If you forget me, think<br />of our gifts to Aphrodite<br />and all the loveliness that we shared<br /><br />"all the violet tiaras,<br />braided rosebuds, dill and<br />crocus twined around your young neck<br /><br />"myrrh poured on your head<br />and on soft mats girls with<br />all that they most wished for beside them<br /><br />"while no voices chanted<br />choruses without ours,<br />no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..."<br /><br />--Translated by Mary Barnard