Love and War - Sappho

This is a poem by the divine Sappho, the poetess of Lesbos.
It is loosely translated from the Aeolic Greek by your humble Peasant, with a great deal of help from his friend Epidurea.


Some say an army of horsemen,
some of foot soldiers, some say ships
are the fairest things on this dark earth,
But I say the most fair is the one I love.

People easily understand the way
I feel, for Helen, far above
all mortals in her beauty, who
left the best of all husbands

And sailed for Troy
Neglecting tears of infant child
And those of her dear parents,
Seduced with one enslaving glimpse

By Aphrodite. Her will so easily bent
Her feet so nimbly danced astray
She reminds me in her betrayal of
Anactoria who has gone away

I would much prefer to see the gentle sway
as she walks, the shining eyes that light her face
Than the war chariots of the Lydians or
their foot soldiers bearing their arms.