{"collection":"Classics","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cla/pos/pos08.htm","path":"cla/pos/pos08.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cla/pos/pos08.htm","text":"The Poems of Sappho, by John Myers O'Hara, [1910]\nAphrodite, subtle of soul and deathless,\n Daughter of God, weaver of wiles, I pray thee\n Neither with care, dread Mistress, nor with anguish,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Slay thou my spirit!\nBut in pity hasten, come now if ever\n From afar of old when my voice implored thee,\n Thou hast deigned to listen, leaving the golden\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0House of thy father\nWith thy chariot yoked; and with doves that drew thee,\n Fair and fleet around the dark earth from heaven,\n Dipping vibrant wings down he azure distance,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Through the mid-ether;\nVery swift they came; and thou, gracious Vision,\n Leaned with face that smiled in immortal beauty,\n Leaned to me and asked, \"What misfortune threatened?\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why I had called thee?\"\n\"What my frenzied heart craved in utter yearning,\n Whom its wild desire would persuade to passion?\n What disdainful charms, madly worshipped, slight thee?\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Who wrongs thee, Sappho?\"\n\"She that fain would fly, she shall quickly follow,\n She that now rejects, yet with gifts shall woo thee,\n She that heeds thee not, soon shall love to madness,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Love thee, the loth one!\"\nCome to me now thus, Goddess, and release me\n From distress and pain; and all my distracted\n Heart would seek, do thou, once again fulfilling,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Still be my ally!","title":"The Poems of Sappho: Sapphics: Ode to Aphrodite","type":"page"}