A Hymn to Aphrodite

Sappho
c. 600 BCE

poetic translation by moonwatcher
from a literal translation by Henry Wharton

O Deathless Aphrodite on your throne so wove
Fair goddess of love and daughter of Jove
I beg you not my weeping heart to break
But come my queen and joyful wishes make

As when you heard my call o'er all the land
You felt my pleas for your divine hand
And came away from your father's heavenly domain
With sparrows drawing your chariot in train

Their swift wings soaring above the earth on high
Drawing you to me through the airy sky
And quick arrived, my blessed queen
To ask my need with a smile serene

"What fray has come, why for me you cried?
Whose beauty have your desires now eyed
That hurt you so and turned you away
For to make it right, to me you pray?

"If she should flee, yet shall return
If not desire, she soon shall yearn
The love you crave she'll give again
And come to you, your love regain"

I pray you now, my blessed queen
Come to my call, my yearning keen
Grant my wish and fill my desire
In your divine hand my love's afire.

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