Mere air,
my words' fare,
but intoxicating to hear.1

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Note: a Sapphic inscription on a long-stemmed cup in an Athens museum.

¹ Ajiashvili adds "You ignite me!"

Text Authorship:

• by Michael R. Burch (b. 1958), loose translation/interpretation [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE) [text unavailable]
  • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Hana Ajiashvili , "Mere Air", 2015, copyright © 2019 [ 2 sopranos, recorder, viola da gamba, harpsichord and guitar ], from Mere Air, no. 1, Rijswijk : Stichting Donemus Beheer
      Publisher: Donemus [external link]
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-27
Line count: 3
Word count: 10