Books Blog: English Literature & Linguistics

New Sapphic Poem

Posted in Poetry by Elliott Back on June 25th, 2005.

Scholars have uncovered a new poem by Sappho:

You for the fragrant-blossomed Muses’ lovely gifts
be zealous, girls, and the clear melodious lyre:

but my once tender body old age now
has seized; my hair’s turned white instead of dark;

my heart’s grown heavy, my knees will not support me,
that once on a time were fleet for the dance as fawns.

This state I oft bemoan; but what’s to do?
Not to grow old, being human, there’s no way.

Tithonus once, the tale was, rose-armed Dawn,
love-smitten, carried off to the world’s end,

handsome and young then, yet in time grey age
o’ertook him, husband of immortal wife.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 25th, 2005 at 10:48 pm and is tagged with sapphic poem, immortal wife, tender body, sappho, lyre, muses, knees, fleet, dawn, girls, heart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

One Response to “New Sapphic Poem”

  1. Still says:


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