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
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
