Sappho's Old Song

Seize the flower-folded Muses' gifts,
My girls -- the lyre's clear-strung music lifts

But not for me. My tender body's marked
By old age, my hair's turned white from dark,

My heart is heavy, and my knees are gone
That once I danced upon as fleet as fawns.

So I complain; but what else is there -- rage?
For, being human, no, I can't not age.

You have heard how Tithonus had his day:
The rose-armed Dawn loved him, took him away,

Young and handsome then, and yet grey time
Still caught him, aged him in an immortal's house.

—27 June-1 July 2005

Not so much a translation but adaptation from other people's ponies. In 2005, some additional fragments of Sappho were found, one of which matched up with another existing fragment to almost give us a second complete poem. Based on the literal translation from the original Times Literary Suppliment report scanned here and versions by Taaffe and Grist, I came up with this rendition. I've no idea why I broke the rhyme in the last couplet, when I could at least gotten an easy assonance with "wife".

---L.