Locked in Hippomenes’ kisses,
my heart clings to Leander;
wet with Leander’s lips,
Xanthus leaps to mind;
lying with Xanthus,
who should I dream but Hippomenes!
One after another,
I love my lovers,
but in the arms of each,
long for others.
Say what you will of me,
I know nothing
of love’s poverty.
From: Hamill, Sam, The Infinite Moment: Poems from Ancient Greek, 1992, New Directions: New York, p. 80.
(https://books.google.com.au/books?id=uH5R8Ar1oscC)
Date: c550 (original in Greek); 1991 (translation in English)
By: Paulus Silentiarius (d. 575-580)
Translated by: Sam Hamill (1943- )
