Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Zoë mou, sas agapo!
By those tresses unconfined,
Wood by each Ægean wind;
By those lids whose jetty
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge;
By those wild eyes like the roe,
Zoë mou, sas agapo!
By that lip I long to taste;
By that zone encircled waist;
By all the token-flowers that tell What words can never speak so well;
By love's alternate joy and woe.
Zoë mou, sas agapo!
Maid of Athens!
I am gone:
Think of me, sweet! when alone.
Though I fly to Istambol,
Athens holds my heart and soul:
Can I cease to love thee?
No!
Zoë mou, sas agapo!
Athens, 1810."Zoë mou, sas agapo,....a Romaic expression of tenderness: if I translate it I shall affront the gentlemen, as it may seem that I supposed they could not; and if I do not I may affront the ladies.
For fear of any misconstruction on the part of the latter I shall do so, begging pardon of the learned.
It means, "My life,
I love you!" which sounds very prettily in all languages, and is as much in fashion in Greece at this day, as Juvenal tells us, the two first words were amongst the Roman ladies, whose erotic expressions were all Hellenized." ~ Lord Byron. (line 15:
By all the token-flowers that tell ):
In the East (where ladies are not taught to write, lest they should scribble assignations) flowers, cinders, pebbles, &c. convey the sentiments of the parties by that universal deputy of Mercury -- an old woman.
A cinder says, "I burn for thee;" a bunch of flowers tied with hair, "Take me and fly;" but a pebble declares -- what nothing else can. (line 21:
Though I fly to Istambol,):
Constantinople. ~ The Works of Lord Byron, vol. 3., 1819.
