Love
"I canna min' my wheel, mither." (Way)
Translated by Arthur S. Way (1920) · From Sappho and the Vigil of Venus (1920)
Oh my mother, sweetest mother, I can weave my web no more,
For my soul for my belovèd is with passion flooded o'er!
Aphrodite wills it so.
Hush thee, swallow, cease thy plaining of the ancient sin and wrong,
O thou daughter of Pandion; for the sorrow in thy song
Makes my tears the faster flow.
In a dream I saw the Love-queen with a cloud-veil floating round her;
And I cried to her to help me, but unpitying I found her:
She but smiled to see my woe!
Codex Note
Way weaves several fragments in the same metre into one connected poem (his preface); the joins are his.
Cite this poem
MLA
Sappho. “"I canna min' my wheel, mither." (Way).” Translated by Arthur S. Way. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/sappho/150/.
Chicago
Sappho. “"I canna min' my wheel, mither." (Way).” Translated by Arthur S. Way. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/sappho/150/.
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