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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO A BRIDE by SAPPHO

First Line: BLEST BEYOND EARTH'S BLISS, WITH HEAVEN I DEEM HIM
Last Line: ALMOST AS DEAD.
Subject(s): APHRODITE; LOVE - EROTIC; LOVE; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL;

BLEST beyond earth's bliss, with heaven I deem him
Blest, the man that in thy presence near thee
Face to face may sit, and while thou speakest,
Listening may hear thee,

And thy sweet-voiced laughter: -- In my bosom
The rapt heart so troubleth, wildly stirred:
Let me see thee, but a glimpse -- and straightway
Utterance of word

Fails me; no voice comes; my tongue is palsied;
Thrilling fire through all my flesh hath run;
Mine eyes cannot see, mine ears make dinning
Noises that stun;

The sweat streameth down, -- my whole frame seized with
Shivering, -- and wan paleness o'er me spread,
Greener than the grass; I seem with faintness
Almost as dead.



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