(Sappho) <br /> <br />Never the tramp of foot or horse, <br />Nor lusty cries from ship at sea, <br />Shall I call loveliest on the dark earth- <br />My heart moves lovingly. <br /> <br />I say that what one loves is best: <br />The midnight fastness of the heart. <br />Helen, you took the beauty of men <br />With unpitying art! <br /> <br />White Paris from Idean hills <br />For you the Trojan towers razed <br />Who swiftly ploughed the black seas <br />Had on your white arm gazed! <br /> <br />Oh, how loving from afar <br />Led you to grief, for in your mind <br />The present was too light, as ever <br />Among fair womankind. . . . <br /> <br />So, Anactoria, go you away <br />With what calm carelessness of sorrow! <br />Your gleaming footstep and your grace, <br />When comes another morrow, <br /> <br />Much would I rather then behold <br />Than Lydian cars or infantry. <br />I ask the lot of blessedness, <br />Beloved, in memory.<br /><br />Allen Tate<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/farewell-to-anactoria/
