A Rebuke

After Sappho, fragment 137

‘Sappho, this is off the record, strictly entre nous…’
‘So save your breath. Have you got nothing else to do
but hang around the place and dish the dirt all day?
If you had something true or generous to say
you’d look me in the eye and come out with it straight.
You’re just the kind of idle blabbermouth I hate.’

Listen to this poem — read by the author

Sappho, Fragment 137

θέλω τί τ' εἴπην, ἀλλά με κωλύει
αἴδως...

αἰ δ' ἦχες ἔσλων ἴμερον ἢ κάλων
καὶ μή τί τ' εἴπην γλῶσσ' ἐκύκα κάκον,
αἴδως † κέν σε οὐκ † ἦχεν ὄππατ',
ἀλλ' ἔλεγες † περὶ τὼ δικαίω †

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