Saturday, 24 April 2010

Sappho: Fragment


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File:Malus unknown.jpg




...Rain, a breeze, Aeolic
Through the cool troughs of apple-wood
There is a rustle, air, water move, soughing
Sleep flows dripping within the leaves
...Rain, a breeze, Aeolic




File:Alkaios Sappho Staatliche  Antikensammlungen 2416 n2.jpg





...αμφὶ δ᾽ ὔδωρ
ψῖχρον ὤνεμοσ κελάδει δἰ ὔσδων
μαλίνων, αἰθυσσομένων δὲ φύλλων
...κῶμα κατάρρει.





File:Head of Poetess Sappho Istanbul.JPG




Sapphic fragment: translated by TC: Greek text from Greek Lyric I: Sappho and Alcaeus, ed. D.A. Campbell (Loeb Classical Library)

Apple flower (Malus domestica): photo by FoeNyx, 2005
Sappho with Alcaeus: side A of Attic red-figure kalathos, found at Akragas (Slcily): Brygos painter, c. 470 BC: photo by Bibi Saint-Pol, 2007 (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich)
Marble head of Sappho, found at Smyrna, near present-day Izmir, Turkey: photo by Bjorn Christian Tørresen, 2009 (Istanbul Archeological Museum)

3 comments:

  1. It's lovely to see how you've made, or re-made, a song of this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. as petals spill
    through the strings
    I lift my hand

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Curtis. Of course, I took a few liberties. With permission. I think.

    And Melissa,

    Thank you very much for these petals spilling through time's fingers.

    ReplyDelete