Despite being exalted by the likes of Plato and Horace among others, Greek poet Sappho's legacy has sadly been scattered like the glass from shattered mirrors. Quite brilliant, but fragmented. Important works used to paint a full picture of the artists of Old have been decimated by the changing tides of culture and time. This is especially true of the works of an artist whose unabashed appreciation for both sexes threatened more suppressed societal constraints that would establish themselves hundreds of years after her death.
Fortunately, hints of her genius remain in poems such as "He is More Than a Hero", where Sappho expresses the ardent expression of envy and unrequited love. The object of her envy as well as her ardor aren't quite defined, but the emotion and passion with which she writes are palpable.
"He is more than a hero
he is a god in my eyes-"
Her opening line suggests her awe and reverence for this man, while leaving his relationship to her open for debate. A father, a brother, a lover, perhaps? It is obviously someone who has earned her respect, which makes the lines that follow more powerful.
"the man who is allowed
to sit beside you - he
who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice"
She changes the object of her poem not to the man she admires, but to the person he is allowed to love. The sex of this individual is not made clear, but it's the tenderness expressed in her description that indicates this person may indeed be female.
It is a person so dear, her eloquent infatuation is laced with tender amazement. But it is the inability to act on that infatuation that comes through with aching sadness. Without the comfort of familiarity, it also indicates the object of her affection is not someone close to the writer, though she very much wants her to be.
The detail Sappho uses to express the longing of her heart takes center stage for the rest of the poem, dying out with the soft sigh of realization that which she wants she cannot have.
"the enticing
laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can'
speak - my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,
hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body
and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn't far from me"
And with quiet resignation, the writer indicates the sweet death of loving someone who cannot love you in return. It is an ode to forbidden love, fitting for the woman whose name would ultimately come to describe the relationship between female lovers.
But like all great poems it expresses human emotion on a universal level, and accessible to anyone who has ever loved in vain.