“Of course I am downcast and tremble
with pity for my state
when old age and wrinkles cover me,

when Eros flies about
and I pursue the glorious young.
Pick up your lyre

and sing to us of her who wears
violets on her breasts. Sing especially
of her who is wandering.”

Fragment 58 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Old Age

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Sappho16

ancient Greek lyric poet -630–-570 BC

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