Sappho: Poetic Fragments I

Remarkably haunting rendition of DW Myatt's translation. The gentle aura, measured pace transports you to Old Greece and the oracular Mysteries. Sound effects and music (including piano and strings) are subtle, tantalising. The voice, clear, sonorous, beautiful, yearning. Sublimely evocative of female love and unadorned beauty of Sappho's Greek. Composed and performed by Richard moult, Sister Lianna, and Wulfran Hall. Translated by David Myatt Artwork by Richard Moult Fragment 41 Beautiful girls, towards you My thoughts will never change .... Fragment 1 Deathless Aphrodite -- Daughter of Zeus and maker of snares - On your florid throne, hear me! My lady, do not subdue my heart by anguish and pain But come to me as when before You heard my distant cry, and listened: Leaving, with your golden chariot yoked, your father's house To move beautiful sparrows swift with a whirling of wings As from heaven you came to this dark earth through middle air And so swiftly arrived. Then you my goddess with your immortal lips smiling Would ask what now afflicts me, why again I am calling and what now I with my restive heart Desired: Whom now shall I beguile To bring you to her love? Who now injures you, Sappho? For if she flees, soon shall she chase And, rejecting gifts, soon shall she give. If she does not love you, she shall do so soon Whatsoever is her will. Come to me now to end this consuming pain Bringing what my heart desires to be brought: Be yourself my ally in this fight. Fragment 96 She honoured you like a goddess And delighted in your choral dance. Now she is pre-eminent among the ladies of Lydia As the rose-rayed moon after the sinking of the Sun Surpasses all the stars and spreads it's light upon the sea And the flowers of the fields To beautify the spreading dew, freshen roses Soft chervil and the flowering melilot ..... Restless, she remembers gentle Atthis - Perhaps her subtle judgement is burdened By your [ fate ] ..... For us, it is not easy to approach Goddesses in the beauty of their form But you .... D. W. Myatt translation: http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/sapph... MP3 Format: http://www.mediafire.com/?e1hljm0wl4h