Sappho Translation: Eros The Limb-Shatterer Poem by Michael Burch

Sappho fragment 130
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Eros, the limb-shatterer,
rattles me,
an irresistible
constrictor.

NOTE: For Sappho of Lesbos, Eros was the irresistible God of lust, passion and sexual desire.



Did Sappho write the world's first 'make love, not war' poem, more than 2,500 years ago? This poem has been variously titled "The Anactoria Poem, " "Helen's Eidolon" and "Some People Say"...

Some Say
Sappho, fragment 16 (Lobel-Page 16)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Warriors on rearing chargers,
columns of infantry,
fleets of warships:
some call these the dark earth's redeeming visions.
But I say—
the one I desire.

And this makes sense
because she who so vastly surpassed all other mortals in beauty
—Helen—
seduced by Aphrodite, led astray by desire,
lightly set sail for distant Troy,
abandoning her celebrated husband,
leaving behind her parents and child!

Her story reminds me of Anactoria,
who has also departed,
and whose lively dancing and lovely face
I would rather see than all the horsemen and war-chariots of the Lydians,
or all their infantry parading in flashing armor.