Page:The Poems of Sappho (1924).djvu/66

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Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite,

Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, I implore thee,

Spare me, O Queen, this agony and anguish,

Crush not my spirit.

Whenever before thou hast hearkened to me—

To my voice calling to thee in the distance,

And heeding, thou hast come, leaving thy father’s

Golden dominions,

With chariot yoked to thy fleet-winged coursers,

Fluttering swift pinions over earth’s darkness,

And bringing thee through the infinite, gliding

Downwards from heaven,

Then, soon they arrived and thou, blessed goddess,

With divine countenance smiling, didst ask me

What new woe had befallen me now and why,

Thus I had called thee.

What in my mad heart was my greatest desire,

Who was it now that must feel my allurements,

Who was the fair one that must be persuaded,

Who wronged thee Sappho?