#SAPPHO

[anarchyparakeet]

“Sapphic yearning” this and “lesbian longing” that. Have you ever seen a girl tuck her hair behind her ear? Have you ever survived such a thing?

[getagirlie]

Hymn to Aphrodite, by Sappho.

TRANSLATED BY ELIZABETH VANDIVER.

Iridescent-throned Aphrodite, deathless

Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you,

Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments

Crush down my spirit,

But before if ever you've heard my pleadings

Then return, as once when you left your father's

Golden house; you yoked to your shining car your

Wing-whirring sparrows;

Skimming down the paths of the sky's bright ether

On they brought you over the earth's black bosom,

Swiftly--then you stood with a sudden brilliance,

Goddess, before me;

Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me

What I suffered, who was my cause of anguish,

What would ease the pain of my frantic mind, and

Why had I called you

To my side: "And whom should Persuasion summon

Here, to soothe the sting of your passion this time?

Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is

Treating you cruelly?

Now she runs away, but she'll soon pursue you;

Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them;

Now she doesn't love you, but soon her heart will

Burn, though unwilling."

Come to me once more, and abate my torment;

Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me

All I long for; Lady, in all my battles

Fight as my comrade.

[constanzarte]

Death of Sappho, by Miguel Carbonell Selva

[duskerkeit]

a homage to Sappho - Norman Lindsay c.1928

[petaltexturedskies]

Sappho, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (tr. by Anne Carson)

[facts-i-just-made-up]

can I have a fact about lesbians?

[isopod-girl-antenna]

Sometimes I remember that all lesbianism is named after 1 really gay lady from 4000 years ago. Whether you use the term Sapphic or lesbian, it still is from her which is hilarious, hope she enjoys being women loving incarnate

[prokopetz]

In the native dialect of Lesbos, Sappho's name is spelled "Psappho". I sometimes picture what it would have been like if that had been the spelling modern English had gone with. Imagine being psapphic.

[spoonsbutbetter]

please laugh, it’s 4:17am here and i’m GIGGLING

[herpsandbirds]

Red-tailed Comet (Sappho sparganurus), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Bolivia

If you noticed the generic name, you also might be interested to know that the subfamily is Lesbiinae.

photograph by Wilder Córdova

[grinsssdrank]

She is so real for saying that

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Jules Lefebvre (1836-1911) "Sappho" Oil on canvas

[literarydesire]

"I declare that later on, even in an age unlike our own, someone will remember who we are" - Sappho

[ledalife]

[petaltexturedskies]

Sappho, If Not Winter: Fragments of Sappho (tr. by Anne Carson)