Facing the Persians

They did not know they stood by Leukas’ rocks
(Where Sappho’s story hurls her from above)
While waiting for the transports to arrive
And part them from a single night of love.

They clasped their hands hard tight down by their side
And neither spoke nor sought each other’s face
They finally pressed brow to brow alone
Embraces, at the last, seemed out of place.

The tremor of their hands betrayed the truth
That they would never seek to meet again
The tautness of each face pretended calm
The darkness of their eyes betrayed their pain.

Odysseus from these beaches sailed away
And Sappho left behind those cliffs above
Such partings are the ethos of this place
Its wind is fair for sailors, not for love.

By
Ian A. Olson