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 a 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 the 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.