Love shook my heart
Sappho and inspiration
Then love shook my heart
Like the wind on the mountain
Shaking the oak trees
From a fragment by Sappho
I have rendered one of Sappho's best know works into a 5-7-5 format because the verse works so well as a haiku.
There is much to contemplate in the words of the Poetess. I can think of no better way to describe a sudden realisation of the depth of feeling one may have for another person. Is it the infatuation of a moment, the improbable pull to an unlikely and, perhaps, inappropriate desire? Is it the playful appeal of someone who has just caught your eye? Is it a passing fancy, or the start of a life-long love story?
Should I find myself struggling to pen a poem dealing with erotic attraction, or to write a love scene or story, I will come back to these three lines, this fragment of ancient lyricism, for inspiration.
About the Creator
Raymond G Taylor
Author based in Margate on the English Kent coast, having moved from London. Known for his short stories and flash fiction, as well as poetry and non-fiction writing on subjects such as art, science, technology and the human condition
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