Friend, woo me not so earnestly.
Vain is thy prayer.
Nay, if in truth thou lovest me.
Hereafter spare
My wearied ears a suit denied.
Go, choose for thee a younger bride.
Not I will brook to live with thee.
An old wife to a young man tied,
Doomed as the years fleet by to see
A spouse who gazes hungry-eyed
On such as she can never be.
The young and fair.
And waits to enshroud her clay with glee,
And graveward bear.
- Sappho