Songs of Bilitis - Benjamin Adamah

THE LOST LETTER
Alas, for me! for I have lost his letter. I had placed it 'twixt my skin and my
strophion, 61 beneath the shielding warmth of my breast. I ran, it must have
fallen out.
I shall return upon my homeward path; should someone find it he would tell my
mother, and I'd be whipped before my mocking sisters.
If a man has found it he will give it to me; or even if he cares to speak to me in
secret, I know the way to ravish him of it.
But should a woman once have gazed upon it, oh, Guardian Zeus protect me! for I
know she'd tell the tale to everyone, or else I'm sure she'd steal my lover from me.
SONG (3)
"The night is so deep that it creeps between my eyelids. --You will never find the
path. You'll be lost within the wood.
--The noise of falling waters fills my ears. --You would not hear the murmurs of
your lover though he should be but twenty steps away.
--The odor of the flowers is so strong that I shall faint and fall upon the path. --
You would not feel him should he cross your road.
--Ah! though he is so far from here, across the very mountain, I see him and I
hear him and I feel him touching me."
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