5.2.08
The following collection of poems are taken from 'The Erotic Spirit' and anthology of poems of sensuality, love and longing, edited by Sam Hamill. Poems from around the world - covering more than thirty centuries - celebrates the erotic spirit in all its forms, from passion of sexual desire to the intense longing for spiritual union. Many of the poems are presented here in new translations by the editor except as noted. 
He is almost a god, a man beside you,
enthralled by your talk, your laughter.
Watching makes my heart beat fast
because, seeing little, I imagine much.
You put a fire in my cheeks
Speech won't come. My ears ring.
Blind to all others, I sweat and stammer.
I am a trembling thing, like grass,
an inch from dying.
--Sappho (6th century B.C.)
Born in the late-seventh century B.C. on the Greek island of Lesbos. Only one of her poems exists in its entirety; the rest only fragments.
written, GeminiSide
