Softer than mists o’er the pale green of waters, O’er the
charmed sea, shod with sandals of shadow Comes the
warm sleep wind of Argolis, floating
Garlands of fragrance;
Comes the sweet wind by the still hours attended,
Touching tired lids on the shores dim with distance, Ever
its way toward the headland of Lesbos,
Toward Mitylene.
Thou alone, Sappho, art sole with the silence,
Sole with night and dreams that are darkness, weaving
Thoughts that are sighs from the heart and their meaning
Vague as the shadow;
When the great silence shall come to thee, sad one, Men that
forget shall remember thy music,
Murmur thy name that shall steal on their passion
Soft as the sleep wind.
Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC). Original text, Public Domain.
O’Hara, John Myers. (1910). The Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English