Songs of Bilitis - Benjamin Adamah

LYKAS
Come, we will stray in the fields, under the juniper bushes; we will eat honey
fresh from the hive and make grasshopper traps from the daffodil stems.
Come, we'll see Lykas, who watches his father's flocks on the shadowy slopes of
the Tauros. Surely he'll give us some milk.
I can hear his flute even now. He plays so cleverly. Here are the dogs and the
lambs, and there he leans against a tree. Is he not even as fair as Adonis?
Oh, Lykas, give us some milk. Here are some figs from our trees. We have come
to stay with you. Oh! bearded nannies, do not leap so high, lest you soon excite
the restless goats.
OFFERING TO THE GODDESS
This garland plaited by my very hands is not for Artemis who rules at Perga-though
Artemis will shield me from the labour-pangs.
Nor for Sidonian Athene, although she be of ivory and gold, and bears in her
hand a pomegranate to tempt the birds.
No, but for Aphrodite whom I love within my breast, for she alone can sate my
hungry lips if I suspend upon her sacred tree my loops of tender rosebuds.
But never will I say my need aloud. I'll stand on tiptoe, whispering my wish in
secret to a crevice in the bark.
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