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The poems of Sappho is considered to be beyond translation, for they display perfect harmony between word and music. How can we reach there when the music is lost? Other problems is the fragmentary nature of the remains and the ancient Greek language. It is hard to know when to make a break in the lines, to know how missing lines were intended, to judge what, if anything, to put in the empty spaces. Yet the feeling the mere words evoke, renders it irrestistible to make an effort and many have tried. Here are but a few.
"Glimmering glow from hastily waning "Here by the rippling well To Eros From all the offspring of the earth and heaven love is the most precious. To Atthis Though in Sardis now she thinks of us constantly and of the life we shared She saw you as a goddess and above all your dancing gave her deep joy. Now she shines among Lydian women like the rose-fingered moon rising after sundown, erasing all stars around her, and pouring light equally across the salt sea and over densely flowered fields lucent under dew. Her light spreads on roses and tender thyme and the blooming honey-lotus. Often while she wanders she remem-
bers you, gentle Atthis, and desire eats away at her heart for us to come. Fragment 138/147 Believe me, in the future someone Will remember us ..... Because you love me Stand with me face to face And unveil the softness in your eyes ..... Contact: I regret that I have mislaid the source of above translations. |
