It was you, Atthis, who said

It was you, Atthis, who said

"Sappho, if you will not get

up and let us look at you

I shall never love you again!

"Get up, unleash your suppleness,

lift off your Chian nightdress

and, like a lily leaning into

"a spring, bathe in the water.

Cleis is bringing your best

purple frock and the yellow

"tunic down from the clothes chest;

you will have a cloak thrown over

you and flowers crowning your hair…

"Praxinoa, my child, will you please

roast nuts for our breakfast? One

of the gods is being good to us:

"today we are going at last

into Mitylene, our favorite

city, with Sappho, loveliest

"of its women; she will walk

among us like a mother with

all her daughters around her

"when she comes home from exile…"

But you forget everything