I have been lounging in shameless fashion enjoying the sun while it lasts. While lounging (amidst periodic dips in the pool) I have been reading Thomas Cahill’s fantastic book – Sailing the Wine-Dark Seas: Why the Greeks Matter and am about half through it. The book is fantastic and I had to drop a few tidbits of info I have picked up along the way.
First and foremost I have learned that I absolutely love the Greek lyrical poet Sappho. Writing around the 6th century BC (about 2,600 years ago) very little survives of what she has written – but what does survive has a very modern appeal – it is sparse and clear, clean and honest in its tone. Here are a few examples of her writing:
When you were living, never did you smell
the roses by Olympus, where the Muses dwell.
Now that you’re dead, your faded ghost in hell
is unremembered here on earth. You ring no bell.
The rhyme comes from translators but no doubt reflects the quality and tone of the original. Here’s another example:
The moon has set
and the Pleiades:
it is the middle of the night,
and time passes, time passes –
and I lie alone.
One last example:
I love what is delicate,
luminous, brave –
what belongs to the sunlight.
That’s what I crave.
Ok I lied – one more excerpt:
Some say cavalry, others infantry,
still others say a navy is
black earth’s most beautiful thing.
But I say it’s whatever,
whatever you may love…
Now I need to find a book of Sappho’s poetry and absorb it. Absolutely brilliant and humbling given that she wrote it more than 2,500 years ago.
Harnessing Chaos 
Enjoyed those excerpts. Thank you.
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