"XII" by Sappho

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( July 7, 2018 [XII]( [Sappho]( In a dream I spoke with the Cyprus-born, And said to her, “Mother of beauty, mother of joy, Why hast thou given to men “This thing called love, like the ache of a wound In beauty’s side, To burn and throb and be quelled for an hour And never wholly depart?” And the daughter of Cyprus said to me, “Child of the earth, Behold, all things are born and attain, But only as they desire,— “The sun that is strong, the gods that are wise, The loving heart, Deeds and knowledge and beauty and joy,— But before all else was desire.” [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( This poem is in the public domain. About This Poem This poem was published in Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics (Chatto and Windus, 1907), translated by Bliss Carman. [Sappho]( Sappho was born around 615 B.C. on the Greek island of Lesbos. Her poems were first collected into nine volumes around the third century B.C., but her work was lost almost entirely for many years. Historians posit Sappho died of old age around 550 B.C. [more-at-poets]( [If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho]( Poetry by Sappho [If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho](, translated by Anne Carson (Vintage, 2003) "Elegy in Joy [excerpt]" by Muriel Rukeyser [read-more]( "Brilliant Juice" by Todd Colby [read-more]( "Drench" by Anne Stevenson [read-more]( July Guest Editor: Adrian Matejka Thanks to Adrian Matejka, author of Map to the Stars (Penguin Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about [Matejka]( and our [guest editors for the year.]( Help Support Poem-a-Day If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a [monthly donation]( or [one-time gift]( to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today’s poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038