Immortal Aphrodite, on your patterned throne,
daughter of Zeus, guile-weaver,
I beg you, goddess, don’t subjugate my heart
with anguish, with grief
but come here to me now, if ever in the past
you have heard my distant pleas
and listened; leaving your father’s golden house
you came to me then
with your chariot yoked; beautiful swift sparrows
brought you around the dark earth
with a whirl of wings, beating fast, from heaven
down through the mid-air
to reach me quickly; then you, my sacred goddess,
your immortal face smiling,
asked me what had gone wrong this time and this time
why was I begging
and what in my demented heart, I wanted most:
‘Who shall I persuade this time
to take you back, yet once again, to her love;
who wrongs you, Sappho?
For if she runs away, soon she shall run after,
if she shuns gifts, she shall give,
if she does not love you, soon she shall even
So come to me now, free me from this aching pain,
fulfil everything that
my heart desires to be fulfilled: you, yes you,
will be my ally.
*****