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Sappho was born somewhere around 630 bc on the Greek island Lesbos. She wrote many volumes of poetry that were admired throughout the ancient Greek world. Plato once suggested that she should be added to the list of muses said to inspire artists. Her home island even minted a coin with her likeness in her lifetime.
Her poetry usually concerned love, often referring to the goddess of love, Aphrodite. She had both male and female lovers, and it is her island which gave its name to the love between women. Because her poetry only survived in fragments, modern translators have the difficult task of reconstructing her poetry on the basis of bits and pieces.
Below are two such poems. The first is Sappho
remembering a lost love; the second is an ode to her daughter,
Cleis.
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I have a small daughter called Cleis, who is
flower I wouldn't take all Croesus' kingdom with love thrown in, for her -- Don't ask me what to wear I have no embroidered headband from Sardis to give you, Cleis, such as I wore and my mother always said that in her day a purple ribbon looped in the hair was thought to be high style indeed
a girl whose hair is yellower than torchlight should wear no headdress but fresh flowers
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Frankly I wish I were dead a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be I said, "Go, and be happy "If you forget me, think "all the violet tiaras, "myrrh poured on your head "while no voices chanted
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