Deathless Aphrodite
Deathless Aphrodite straying,
In the gushing sunlight playing,
Wolves in protestation baying,
By the brook where fishes dwell.
Animals adroitly pacing,
Paths beside the river tracing,
Every fetid fear erasing,
Casting clinging ghosts to hell.
Past the lonely lupin growing,
By the silky river flowing,
Cheeriness and joy bestowing,
Causing hidden love to swell.
Birds awake in dainty singing,
With a happy music bringing,
Colourful and deftly winging,
Under heaven’s mighty spell.
Gods in levity and lightness,
Borne upon the solar brightness,
Reveries in heaven’s whiteness,
Revelations prophets tell!
Deathless Aphrodite, throned in flowers, Daughter of Zeus, O terrible enchantress, With this sorrow, with this anguish, break my spirit Lady, not longer! Hear anew the voice! O hear and listen! Come, as in that island dawn thou camest, Billowing in thy yoked car to Sappho Forth from thy father’s Golden house in pity! … I remember: Fleet and fair thy sparrows drew thee, beating Fast their wings above the dusky harvests, Down the pale heavens, Lightning anon! And thou, O blest and brightest, Smiling with immortal eyelids, asked me: ‘Maiden, what betideth thee? Or wherefore Callest upon me? ‘What is here the longing more than other, Here in this mad heart? And who the lovely One beloved that wouldst lure to loving? Sappho, who wrongs thee? ‘See, if now she flies, she soon must follow; Yes, if spurning gifts, she soon must offer; Yes, if loving not, she soon must love thee, Howso unwilling…’ Come again to me! O now! Release me! End the great pang! And all my heart desireth Now of fulfillment, fulfill! O Aphrodite, Fight by my shoulder! – Ode to Aphrodite by Sappho. This isn’t a typical prayer, but an anguished cry from a devotee to her goddess. She’s experiencing unrequited love… for a woman. Image: Aphrodite by Briton Rivière (1840–1920). It depicts the ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, standing in a dark forest and reaching up toward a white dove. She is surrounded by a spellbound group of wild and ferocious animals—including lions, leopards, and wolves—who gather peacefully around her.
