urn:lj:scribbld.com:atom1:seafoamborn Arden Desrosiers Arden Desrosiers 2011-03-18T21:49:46Z urn:lj:scribbld.com:atom1:seafoamborn:274 2011-03-18T21:49:46Z 2011-03-18T21:49:46Z <i>Deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind,<br /> child of Zeus, who twists lures, I beg you<br /> do not break with hard pains,<br /> O lady, my heart<br /><br /> but come here if ever before<br /> you caught my voice far off<br /> and listening left your father’s<br /> golden house and came,<br /><br /> yoking your car. And find birds brought you,<br /> quick sparrows over the black earth<br /> whipping their wings down the sky<br /> through midair–<br /><br /> they arrived. But you, O blessed one,<br /> smiled in your deathless face<br /> and asked what (now again) I have suffered and why<br /> (now again) I am calling out<br /><br /> and what I want to happen most of all<br /> in my crazy heart. Whom should I persuade (now again)<br /> to lead you back into her love? Who, O<br /> Sappho, is wronging you?<br /><br /> For if she flees, soon she will pursue.<br /> If she refuses gifts, rather will she give them.<br /> If she does not love, soon she will love<br /> even unwilling.<br /><br /> Come to me now: loose me from hard<br /> care and all my heart longs<br /> to accomplish, accomplish. You<br /> be my ally.</i><br /><br />--Sappho (trans. Anne Carson)