Page:Sappho and the Vigil of Venus (1920).djvu/38

18 Thick-clustering hyacinths was long

Hidden from sight—

An egg, but of no mortal birth,

Far whiter than all eggs of earth.

And none save Zeus and she, I wis,

Could tell what swan had fathered this,

This egg so white.

Friend, woo me not so earnestly.

Vain is thy prayer.

Nay, if in truth thou lovest me,

Hereafter spare

My wearied ears a suit denied.

Go, choose for thee a younger bride.

Not I will brook to live with thee,

An old wife to a young man tied,

Doomed as the years fleet by to see

A spouse who gazes hungry-eyed

On such as she can never be,

The young and fair,

And waits to enshroud her clay with glee,

And graveward bear.