Variations on Sappho’s Fragment 4

By Micah Towery

 ...as starlight flickers 
out when its bright 
mother—moon—hovers
heavy over silver earth...
*

So the moon, 
bright and gravid, droops 
above the earth, 
and the silver stars go out 
about her.
*

The moon labors 
over her argent lands. 
The stars about are fickle.
*

Now that the moon heaves
brightly over your silver lands—  
stars, who sees you 
shining?