Sappho

The art of poetry goes back millennia, addressing the same subjects and emotions addressed by today’s poets.

Here is a poem by Sappho (c. 630 – c. 570 BC), an Archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos, known for her lyric poetry written to be sung while accompanied by a lyre.

In ancient times she was widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess". Most of Sappho's poetry is now lost, and what is extant has survived only in fragmentary form.

Jealousy

He must feel blooded with the spirit of a god
to sit opposite you and listen, and reply,
to your talk, your laughter, your touching,
breath-held silences. But what I feel, sitting here
and watching you, so stops my heart and binds
my tongue that I can't think what I might say
to breach the aureole around you there.

It's as if someone with flint and stone had sparked
a fire that kindled the flesh along my arms
and smothered me in its smoke-blind rush.
Paler than summer grass, it seems
I am already dead, or little short of dying.

— Sappho