Sappho
Resistance is always a bitter agony
but the bitterest antagonist is
oneself.
All right rebellion begins in the self
and ends in the self;
For Men may master many things
but which of them can tame
his little tongue?
Teach us, Queen of Lesbos,
How the tongue is tamed;
For what Men cannot do
a Woman might.
O Fire higher than the Pierean Muse,
Burn my blindness that my sister
May teach me what she has to teach!
Resistance is always a bitter agony
but the bitterest antagonist is
oneself.
All right rebellion begins in the self
and ends in the self;
For Men may master many things
but which of them can tame
his little tongue?
Teach us, Queen of Lesbos,
How the tongue is tamed;
For what Men cannot do
a Woman might.
O Fire higher than the Pierean Muse,
Burn my blindness that my sister
May teach me what she has to teach!
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