SONG OF THE ROSE
by: Sappho
 F Zeus chose
us a King of the flowers in his mirth,
- He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it;
- For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the earth,
- Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it!
- For the rose, ho, the rose! is the eye of the flowers,
- Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair,
- Is the lightning of beauty that strikes through the bowers
- On pale lovers that sit in the glow unaware.
- Ho, the rose breathes of love! ho, the rose lifts the cup
- To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest!
- Ho, the rose having curled its sweet leaves for the world
- Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up,
- As they laugh to the wind as it laughs from the west.
|
This English translation, by Mrs.
Browning, of 'Song of the Rose' is reprinted from Greek Poets
in English Verse. Ed. William Hyde Appleton. Cambridge: The
Riverside Press, 1893. |
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POEMS BY SAPPHO |
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