SAPPHO
Sappho on Lesbos. An island is a ring,
a burning-glass for love and suffering.
To her a crown of violets, the moon,
and a round-dance of girls as offering.
THE POET'S FISH
THE POET'S FISH
Dolphins, Euripides said, on fire!
They quench their burning in the sea.
As waves from Homer's moving lips
are syllables of the Odyssey.
THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT CORINTH
Pausanias keeps a count of offerings --
horses of gold with hooves of ivory!
They leap in splendour from the printed words
which put his bridle on their memory.
EPITAPH FOR LAIS
Famed far and wide, Lais the prostitute;
her grave, but never her beauty, in dispute.
From Thessaly: "She was more glittering
than the clear water of the water-spring."
THE DARK AND THE CLEAR
Going down to Delphi, at Lebadeia
splashed my face where the two springs met,
one for Forgetfulness and one for Remembrance.
Much I remember and much forget.
Go read more. They're all amazing.