while reading sappho
Two excerpts of Sappho struck home to my soul as I was reading through Anne Carson's translations of her fragments, If Not, Winter.
The first is the third and fourth lines of Sappho 5, which read:
κὤσσα ϝ]οι θύμῳ κε θέλῃ γένεσθαι
πάντα τε]λέσθην
Or as translated by Anne Carson:
And all that in his heart he wants to be,
make it be
This poem is a prayer that Sappho pens on behalf of her brother, and how deeply I parallel the emotion expressed in these lines. And such a beautifully succinct wish it is as well.
The second is a full fragment, Sappho 147:
μνάσασθαί τινά φαιμι †καὶ ἕτερον† ἀμμέων
Or as translated by Anne Carson:
someone will remember us
I say
even in another time.
Whenever prolific artists mention legacy, it gets to me. Would you have guessed, dear Sappho, that you would be remembered, loved, discussed even at this point in time? Is this too much of 'another time' for your conceptions? Even though your work is in fragments now, the beauty of it all still manages to shine through. She still breathes.
There will never be a day when I won't feel an insane joy upon discovering parallel emotions in people from long ago. There is a grounding comfort in finding in the words of someone hundreds or thousands of years before you emotions, expressions, desires that you have felt many times. There is a consistency here. You are not alone.
~nan