THE TEXTS FOR SCOTT PENDER'S FRAGMENTS
The texts for Fragments are taken from the book Archilochos, Sappho, Alkman: Three Lyric Poets of the Late Greek Bronze Age, translated and edited by Guy Davenport, published by the University of California Press, Copyright 1980 by the Regents of the University of California. Fragments by both Archilochos and Sappho are used. This material is used with the kind permission of the University of California Press.
1. War
Watch, Glaukos, Watch!
Heavy and high buckles the sea.
A cloud tall and straight
Has gathered on the Gyrean mountain-tops,
Forewarning of thunder, lightning, wind.
What we don't expect comes fearfully.
War, Glaukos, war.
2. Long Ago
She held
a sprig of myrtle she'd picked
And a rose
That pleased her most
Of those on the bush
And her long hair shaded
her shoulders and back.
I loved you once, Atthis, long ago.
3. How Many Times
How many times,
How many times,
On the gray sea,
The sea combed
[By the wind]
Like a wilderness
Of woman's hair,
Have we longed,
Lost in nostalgia,
For the sweetness
Of homecoming.
Their lives
Held in the arms
Of the waves.
4. I Wouldn't Be Surprised
There's nothing now
We can't expect to happen!
Anything at all, you can bet,
Is ready to jump out at us.
No need to wonder over it.
Father Zeus has turned
Noon to night, blotting out
The sunshine utterly,
Putting cold terror
At the back of the throat.
Let's believe all we hear.
Even that dolphins and cows
Change place, porpoises and goats,
Rams booming along in the offing,
Mackerel nibbling in the hill pastures.
I wouldn't be surprised,
I wouldn't be surprised.
5. Thief and the Night
Night.
The wind
Blows landward.
Branches creak.
Thief and the night,
Thief and the night.
6. May He Lose His Way
May he lose his way on the cold sea
And swim to the heathen Salmydessos,
May the ungodly Thracians [with their hair
Done up in a fright on the top of their heads]
Grab him, that he know what it is to be alone
Without friend or family.
May he eat slave's bread
And suffer the plague and freeze naked,
Laced about with the nasty trash of the sea.
May his teeth knock the top on the bottom
As he lies on his face, spitting brine,
At the edge of the cold sea, like a dog.
And all this it would be a privilege to watch,
Giving me great satisfaction as it would,
For he took back the word he gave in honor,
Over the salt and table at a friendly meal.
7. Neobulé's Hand
O that I might but touch
Neobulé's hand.
8. With Eyes Like That
With eyes like that, stand still,
Gaze with candor from that beauty,
Bold as friends before each other.
9. Sometimes
Sometimes she closed her eyes
All night long.
And night's black sleep upon the eyes.
10. Doves
With quickened heart they hovered,
Fluttered, and lit with folding wings,
The doves. My heart is cold.
Their wings fold down,
My heart grows chill.
The moon has set, and the Pleiades.
It is the middle of the night,
Hour follows hour. I lie alone.
11. And the Heart is Pleased
And the heart
Is pleased
By one thing
After another.