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The Poems of Sappho, by John Myers O'Hara, [1910], at sacred-texts.com


p. 50

PASSION

Now Love shakes my soul, a mighty
  Wind from the high mountain falling
  Full on the oaks of the forest;

Now, limb-relaxing, it masters
  My life and implacable thrills me,
  Rending with anguish and rapture.

Now my heart, paining my bosom,
  Pants with desire as a mænad
  Mad for the orgiac revel.

Now under my skin run subtle
  Arrows of flame, and my body
  Quivers with surge of emotion.

Now long importunate yearnings
  Vanquish with surfeit my reason;
  Fainting my senses forsake me.


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