Song of the Rose
(attributed to Sappho)
If Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth,
He would call to the rose and would royally crown
it,
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the
earth,
Is the light of the plants that are growing upon
it.
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the eye of the
flowers,
Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves
fair,--
Is the lightning of beauty, that strikes through the
bowers
On pale lovers who sit in the glow unaware.
Ho, the rose breathes of love! ho, the rose, lifts the
cup
To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest!
Ho, the rose, having curled its sweet leaves for the
world,
Takes delight in the motion its petals keep
up,
As they laugh to the Wind as it laughs from the west.
--trans. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
