Читать книгу Yale Classics - Ancient Greek Literature - Anacreon - Страница 117

LOVE-SONGS

SAPPHO AND ALCAEUS

Alcaeus:

Pure, violet-crowned Lesbian maid,

Sweet-smiling Sappho, I had paid

An amorous suit to thee, but shame

Permits me scarce to breathe thy name.

Sappho:

Alcaeus, were thy heart and thought

With pure and noble feeling fraught,

And were thy torigue from evil free,

Nor framing double speech for me,

Shame had not driven away thy smile,

But thou hadst spoken free from guile.

TO SAPPHO

A PARAPHRASE

Ah hapless me! O miserable me!

Wretched and all forlorn!

Driven from home, and on the raging sea

Hither and thither borne!

My land a tyrant’s sport, my comrades dead,

My city torn apart,

There is no peaceful pillow for my head,

No haven for my heart.

But in thine eyes I see my beacon light,

For love is throned there,

And as Apollo triumphs over night

So Eros conquers care.

Then hear my song, O hear the love I sing,

I pray thee, O I pray!

And thou wilt make me soon forget the sting

Of sorrow passed away.

NO MORE FOR LYCUS

A PARAPHRASE

No more for Lycus will I sigh,

Or seek his fond caresses,

Or sing his darkly flashing eye,

His wealth of raven tresses.

No joyous paean will I raise

While near to him I linger;

Nor chant again his name, nor praise

The mole upon his finger.

But raise a song for her, O Muse!

The violet-crowned maiden,

And praise her soft throat’s changing hues,

Her low voice, laughter-laden.

Sing yet again her thousand charms,

Her eye’s entrancing splendour,

Her swarthy cheeks and supple arms

And bosom dark and tender.

Yea, sing forevermore of her,

My mistress soft-beguiling,

Fairest of all who are, or were,

My Sappho, sweetly-smiling.