I have had not one word from
Frankly I wish I were dead.
When she left, she wepta great deal; she said tome, ``This parting must beendured,
Sappho. I go unwillingly.''I said, ``Go, and be happybut remember (you knowwell) whom you leave shackled by love``If you forget me, thinkof our gifts to Aphroditeand all the loveliness that we shared``all the violet tiaras,braided rosebuds, dill andcrocus twined around your young neck``myrrh poured on your headand on soft mats girls withall that they most wished for beside them``while no voices chantedchoruses without ours,no woodlot bloomed in spring without song…''translated by:
Barnard
