Friday, June 30, 2006
Sappho
*
Sappho, by Christina Georgina Rossetti
*
I sigh at day-dawn, and I sigh
When the dull day is passing by.
I sigh at evening, and again
I sigh when night brings sleep to men.
Oh! it were far better to die
Than thus forever mourn and sigh,
And in death's dreamless sleep to be
Unconscious that none weep for me;
Eased from my weight of heaviness,
Forgetful of forgetfulness,
Resting from care and pain and sorrow
Thro' the long night that knows no morrow;
Living unloved, to die unknown,
Unwept, untended, and alone.
*
~~~~~
*
To Lesbia (after Sappho), by Gaius Valerius Catullus
*
I say not not Helios burns so strong,
I say he outshines the flickering sun
when your laughter's radiance falls on him there,
trembling before you;
the song draws the soul from my body, it
shakes me with wanting and fear, because when I
see you I arch to the stars and dissolving I
fade into darkness,
and now, like a mawkish boy, I stammer,
pale flame veins my flesh and my ears ring
crazy in chimes and night veils my eyes,
failing such brightness.
Languor, Catullus, destroys you. Look out!
Languor ripens your womanish ease.
Languor before has ruined great kings,
laid waste happy cities.
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No, I'm just kidding. It takes a lot of balls to put something out there. Hell, I've only done it six times. Put your guts in to it. Make me squeamish, make me sorry. Make me hate myself. Make me sorry I have never read before. Make me sorry I have never understood. Rip your heart out; rip my heart out.
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