Robin Hamilton

 

Translations from Sappho and Anacreon


SAPPHO:         'To Aphrodite'


Finely-throned Aphrodite, spinner of tricks,
Child of the High One, ever-living Lady,
Do not, I beseech you, destroy my spirit
               with sorrow or chagrin,

But come here to me at once, if you ever
In the past attended to my cries of love,
Drew near to me from far off, left the golden
               house of your father

In your intricate, yoked chariot:  sparrows
Swift and beautiful with rapid, whirring wings
Conveyed you from the sky through the middle air
               down to the dark earth

And soon you were come;  and then, Fortunate One,
With a curving smile on your immortal face,
You asked what was the matter with me this time,
               why I called you now,

And what was it, in the madness of my heart,
I most desired to possess:  "Who is it now
That I must persuade back to your clasp of love?
               Who wrongs you, Sappho?

For if she hangs back now, she will soon pursue;
Accepting no gifts, soon she will offer them;
And if she does not love, soon she must love you
               drawn against her will."

Come to me even now, and deliver me
From these harsh torments;  fulfil in me
All my heart would have fulfilled;  yourself be
               my willing support.



SAPPHO:         Fragment 31


Lucky as any god, that man seems to me,
The one seated there, over across from you,
Bending his head forward, intimate, hearing
               all your sweet voice,

Your delicious laughter.  It is that, I swear,
Which has started my heart pounding.  For when I
Suddenly look up at you, I can command
               no power of speaking,

For my tongue is broken;  all in a moment
A thin flame is creeping beneath my flesh,
With my eyes I can see nothing, both my ears
               thunder with nothing;

A chill sweat has broken out all over me,
And a shuddering possesses me completely;
I am paler than dry grass, seem to myself
               hardly alive still.

But all this is sent to me to be endured ...



SAPPHO:         Fragment 34


Stars assume their veils when she first emerges,
Shyly form her retinue;  but at full moon
Draw off to the uttermost reach of chill night:
               So with Alexis.



ANACREON:       Fragment 15


That blond-haired boy, young Eros
Has tossed me his ball,
Sent me to play catch
  with the girl in laced sandles.

No luck however; she's from Lesbos,
That fine island, turns me down flat
Since my hair has gone grey,
  pants after her other.
 


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