Sappho is perhaps best known for her "erotic" fragments, which seem to have burned through the now-marred papyrus. The feeling has come down to us as "Eros," left untranslated here. Eros is the child of Póros (Resource/Plenty) and Penía (Poverty/Lack). The plenty is desire - an intense state of longing to merge with another. This aspect has come through in English but Sappho is equally interested in lack -- the complete shutdown of bodily control that comes with desire.
Eros detaches me
Like an oak tree ripped – my wits – from hills.
Set fire to me,
Sappho, first.
You came, and I desired
And you cooled my burning with ache.
And for Sappho … among the doves,
Cold stirred the beating of their wings.
Which way to race – two minds in me.
I brushed against … but not, I suppose, the sky.
Who’s this country girl … at work on my mind ...
Girl who wears a skirt … from the country ...
Doesn't know ... how to pull the leggings up
Over her ankles.
Indeed I loved you Atthi, long ago ...
When you were a girl and seemed so small, graceless.
How can the hurt go on
Kypris, when one loves
And won't release the pain
Heedlessly tearing me,
The one with buckled knees.
Oh Mother I can't weave,
Desire broke me.
Eros swings loose my limbs again,
The pleasure pain serpent jurisdiction.
Across the hill
The rose
...
Glistens
Hunger
Moan
Dripping
Mm
-------------------------------------------
47
Ἔρος δ᾿ ἐτίναξέ μοι
φρένας, ὠς ἄνεμος κὰτ ὄρος δρύσιν ἐμπέτων.
38
ὄπταις ἄμμε
Σαπφὼ πρώτῳ.
48
ἦλθες, ἔγω δέ σ᾿ ἐμαιόμαν,
ὂν δ᾿ ἔψυξας ἔμαν φρένα καιομέναν πόθῳ.
42
ἡ δὲ Σαπφὼ … ἐπὶ τῶν περιστερῶν·
ταῖσι <δὲ> ψῦχρος μὲν ἔγεντ᾿ ὀ θῦμος,
πὰρ δ᾿ ἴεισι τὰ πτέρα
51
οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὄττι θέω· δύο μοι τὰ νοήμ⟨μ⟩ατα
52
ψαύην δ᾿ οὐ δοκίμωμ᾿ ὀράνω δυσπαχέα
57
τίς δ᾿ ἀγροΐωτις θέλγει νόον . . .
ἀγροΐωτιν ἐπεμμένα στόλαν . . .
οὐκ ἐπισταμένα τὰ βράκε ᾿ ἔλκην ἐπὶ τὼν σφύρων;
49
ἠράμαν μὲν ἔγω σέθεν Ἂτθι πάλαι πότα·
***
σμίκρα μοι παίς ἔμμεν᾿ ἐφαίνεο κἄχαρις.
102
γλύκηα μᾶτερ, οὔτοι δύναμαι κρέκην τὸν ἴστον
πόθῳ δάμεισα παῖδος βραδίναν δι’ Ἀφροδίταν.
130
Ἔρος δηὖτέ μ’ ὀ λυσιμέλης δόνει,
γλυκύπικρον ἀμάχανον ὄρπετον
74a
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74b
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74c
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74d
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