Echoes from East and West/A Hymn to Venus
For other English-language translations of this work, see Hymn to Venus (Sappho).
A HYMN TO VENUS.
(From Sappho).
O thou on broider'd throne, immortal Venus,Daughter of Jove, wile-weaver, I beseech thee,Not, not with pains, and not with troubles, weigh thou,O Queen, my spirit;But hither come, if ever thou aforetimeThat voice of mine with heedful ear from far-offDidst hear, and, having left thy Father's mansionsAll-golden, camestWith chariot yoked; and thou wast drawn by beauteousAnd fleeting sparrows, round the earth all-duskyA-flapping fast their wings, from utmost heavenAthwart the midmost;And quickly they arrived; and thou, O blest one,Thy smile displaying on thy face immortal,Didst ask, why now again I grieved, and whereforeAgain I call'd thee,And what I most desired, for me to happen,With madding spirit. "Now again, what CharmerWouldst thou lead forth to be thy love? What person,O Sappho, wrongs thee?"For, even tho' one flies, one soon shall follow,And, if one takes not gifts, one yet shall give them,And, if one loves thee not, one soon shall love thee,Howso unwilling." Come now to me, and loosen me from cruel Tangle of care, and, whatso to accomplish My spirit seeks, accomplish; and thyself beA fellow-fighter.
July, 1908.
[Note.—Nothing in literary history is so touching as the picture of "Sappho who broke off a fragment of her soul for us to guess at." The present poem is quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus as an example of the style which he calls "smooth and florid." I have not preserved the alternation of consonants and vowels, which is fine in Greek, but which is apt to be cloying in English.]