Outshining All Stars

Photo by Laurens R.M.D. on Unsplash

A translation of Sappho, Fragment 96

You are like a famous goddess

But rejoice well in your dancing

Now you stand out among Lydian women

As sometimes, when the sun has set,

The rosy fingered moon

Outshining all stars. And the light

Spreads on the salt sea

And equally on the flowery fields

And the dew is beautifully spread,

And the roses bloom with the tender chervil

And the flowering honey-clover.

Often she is remembering you, wandering, gentle

Atthis, with longing.

I believe in her tender heart she is consumed by your fate.