Ornate-throned immortal Aphrodite, wile-weaving
daughter of Zeus, I entreat you: do not overpower my
heart, mistress, with ache and anguish,
but come here, if ever in the past you heard my voice
from afar and acquiesced and came, leaving your
father’s golden house,
with chariot yoked: beautiful swift sparrows whirring
fast-beating wings brought you above the dark earth
down from heaven through the mid-air,
and soon they arrived; and you, blessed one, with a
smile on your immortal face asked what was the matter
with me this time and why I was calling this time
and what in my maddened heart I most wished to
happen for myself: “Whom am I to persuade this time to
lead you back to her love? Who wrongs you, Sappho?
If she runs away, soon she shall pursue; if she does not
accept gifts, why, she shall give them instead; and if she
does not love, soon she shall love even against her will.”
Come to me now again and deliver me from oppressive
anxieties; fulfil all that my heart longs to fulfil, and you
yourself be my fellow-fighter.