The poem below, written by Sappho, has inspired me to make this painting. This is how I imagine the girl Sappho has written the poem for, the girl who has to leave the island of Lesbos, wearing a violet tiara and a necklace made of rosebuds dill and crocus.
It's a sad poem about a girl who had to leave Sappho and the isle of Lesbos against her will and against her feelings. It's poem abot tears, infinite sadness and love that is to weak to survive in a hostile world. Even if she loved Sappho, this girls had to leave her be cause she was forced to. There were long periods in history when women had no right to decide about their own lifes and could not follow their feelings.
I have not had one word from her
It's a sad poem about a girl who had to leave Sappho and the isle of Lesbos against her will and against her feelings. It's poem abot tears, infinite sadness and love that is to weak to survive in a hostile world. Even if she loved Sappho, this girls had to leave her be cause she was forced to. There were long periods in history when women had no right to decide about their own lifes and could not follow their feelings.
I have not had one word from her
Frankly I wish I were dead
When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."
When she left, she wept
a great deal; she said to me, "This parting must be
endured, Sappho. I go unwillingly."
I said, "Go, and be happy
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love
but remember (you know
well) whom you leave shackled by love
"If you forget me, think
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared
of our gifts to Aphrodite
and all the loveliness that we shared
"all the violet tiaras,
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck
braided rosebuds, dill and
crocus twined around your young neck
"myrrh poured on your head
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them
and on soft mats girls with
all that they most wished for beside them
"while no voices chanted
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..
choruses without ours,
no woodlot bloomed in spring without song..
