Socrates versus Sappho
One wonders if poor Socrates might just
Have been much happier if he had made
Up poems, not philosophy. A gust
Of inspiration from Apollo swayed
The poets into rhapsody of thrill.
While lost in love for some young person’s hair,
The writers in their songs spewed joy. The spill
Of this in Sappho then became a snare,
When Phaon or a woman far beyond
Mere beauty left her unfulfilled, gave verse
That rings immortal to this day. The fond
Loves last forever though they were a curse
Like Alcibiades. The thinker’s heights
Should turn to Aphrodite’s lyric nights.
To see Sappho’s fragmentary poem go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho_31