“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.”

— Sappho

Fragment 58 Voigt
The Willis Barnstone translations, Old Age

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Sappho 16

ancient Greek lyric poet -630–-570 BC

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