" Prayer to Afroditi

On your dappled throne eternal Afroditi,
cunning daughter of Zeus,
I beg you, do not crush my heart

with pain, O lady,

but come here if ever before
you heard my voice from far away,
and yielding left your father's house

of gold and came,

yoking birds to your chariot. Beautiful
quick sparrows whirring on beating wings
took you from heaven down to mid sky

over the black earth

and soon arrived. O blessed one,
on your deathless face a smile,
you asked me what I am suffering

and why I call you,

what I most want to happen
in my crazy heart. "Whom shall I persuade
again to take you into her love? Who,

O Psapfo, wrongs you?

If she runs away, soon she will pursue.
If she scorns gifts, now she will bribe.
If she doesn't love, soon she will love

even unwillingly."

Come to me now and loosen me
from blunt agony. Labor
and fill my heart with fire. Stand by me

and be my ally.

"

― Sappho , Poems and Fragments