The moon has set/ and the Pleiades
it is the middle of the night/ time passes

and still/ I lie alone
                             - Sappho c 630 - 570 BC

 

How could I even recognize
the distant Pleiades
or know when they dip down
among the crowded street lights?
And the moon, who knows

what time it sets? I could
try to find it through
the bedroom window, but
it's probably lost somewhere
behind the house. I watch

my mobile phone, the silent
hours are fading, one by one.
It's long past midnight
and still I lie alone.