Classic Poem

I have had not one word from her

Frankly I wish I were dead.
When she left, she wept

a great deal; she said to
me, " This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."

I said, " Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love

" If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared

" all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck

" myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them

" while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song . . ."