by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
Translation by Walter Savage Landor (1775 - 1864)
Mother, I cannot mind my wheel Matches base text
Language: English after the Aeolic Greek
Mother, I cannot mind my wheel; My fingers ache, my lips are dry: O, if you feel the pain I feel! But O, who ever felt as I? No longer could I doubt him true - All other men may use deceit; He always said my eyes were blue, And often swore my lips were sweet.
Composition:
- Set to music by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Mother, I cannot mind my wheel", from The Nantucket Songs, no. 6
Text Authorship:
- by Walter Savage Landor (1775 - 1864), no title, appears in Simonidea, first published 1860 [an adaptation]
Based on:
- a text in Aeolic Greek by Sappho (flourished c610-c580 BCE)
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 55