It was you, Atthis, who said

``Sappho, if you will not get
up and let us look at you
I shall never love you again!

``Get up, unleash your suppleness,
lift off your Chian nightdress
and, like a lily leaning into

``a spring, bathe in the water.
Cleis is bringing your best
pruple frock and the yellow

``tunic down from the clothes chest;
you will have a cloak thrown over
you and flowers crowning your hair...

``Praxinoa, my child, will you please
roast nuts for our breakfast? One
of the gods is being good to us:

``today we are going at last
into Mitylene, our favorite
city, with Sappho, loveliest

``of its women; she will walk
among us like a mother with
all her daughters around her

``when she comes home from exile...''

But you forget everything

		Sappho
		tr. Barnard