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hawkwing_lb"To Aphrodite"
I mean to celebrate Cyprus-born Kythereia, who to mortals
Gives gentle gifts: in your much-desired face
You are smiling always, and upon that much-desired face
Shines a youthful bloom.
Hail, goddess, guardian-ruler of well-built Salamis
on Cypress by the sea: give me a song to excite desire
And I will give heed to you and I will recall another song.
That one was short, but tricksy in places. I think my translation keeps most of the sense, at a loss of the elegant brevity of the Greek - and at a loss of complete literalness - but I'm making more than one assumption about what result the Greek intends.
I mean to celebrate Cyprus-born Kythereia, who to mortals
Gives gentle gifts: in your much-desired face
You are smiling always, and upon that much-desired face
Shines a youthful bloom.
Hail, goddess, guardian-ruler of well-built Salamis
on Cypress by the sea: give me a song to excite desire
And I will give heed to you and I will recall another song.
That one was short, but tricksy in places. I think my translation keeps most of the sense, at a loss of the elegant brevity of the Greek - and at a loss of complete literalness - but I'm making more than one assumption about what result the Greek intends.
