Sappho — Aphrodites Doves

When the drifting gray of the vesper shadow Dimmed their upward path through the midmost azure, And the length of night overtook them distant                         Far from Olympus; Far away from splendor and joy of Paphos, From the voice and smile of their peerless Mistress, Back to whom their truant wings were in rapture                         Speeding belated; Chilled at heart and grieving they drooped their pinions, Circled slowly, dipping in flight toward Lesbos, Down through dusk that darkened on Mitylene's                         Columns of marble; Down through glory wan of the fading sunset, Veering ever toward the abode of Sappho, Toward my home, the fane of the glad devoted                         Slave of the Goddess; Soon they gained the tile of my roof and rested, Slipped their heads beneath their wings while I watched them Sink to sleep and dreams, in the warm and drowsy                         Night of midsummer.