Marcello D’Amico

Ode to Sappho

Precious daughter
Of the Aeolian stock
Liberator of the human spirit.
You graced these shores
That I walk on now
Tracing your footprints,
Untouched by wind and rain
In the millennia.
I can see your silhouette
In front of me,
As you guide me
Towards this journey
Of discovery.
You stand taller
Than the Colossus of Rhodes.
You shine brighter
Than the Pharos of Alexandria.
Your slender body more beautiful
Than the columns of the Parthenon.
You are wiser
Than Diogenes.
You run faster
Than Pheidippides.
You are more cunning
Than Ulysses
A braver warrior
Than Achilles.
You are more beautiful
Than Venus
A more passionate lover
Than Aphrodite.
Your flowing air in the wind
Is more melodious than the Aeolian harp.
I pay homage to you
My Sappho
As you lead me
To my new freedom.
Once I shed old skin
In another Aeolian Island,
Now I shed my clothes
Where it all begun.
I am completely clean
Of all human impurities
As I embrace you.

Rickety old Boat

Entwined like two ivy vines
On the wooden floor
Of the rickety old row boat
We were frolicking and rollicking
To the rhythm of the swell
Of the Aegean Sea.
Like Aphrodite and Adonis
We were summer lovers,
Thus had decreed Zeus.
Time stood still from
Dawn to sunset.
In turn we were watching the sky.
Evening came.
The full moon and the stars
Shining on our naked bodies
As we were feasting,
Eating nectar
Drinking ambrosia of the Gods
To the rhythm
Of the distant pan flute.