Motion For Peace (Translation) Poem by Erhard Hans Josef Lang

With wet traces yet of the embittered quarreling
in our eyes that we have pinched together
we are biting ourselves fast onto each other
angrily anxious to celebrate our reconciliation
creamy drops of maddened cardiac blood
cleansing us, making us pure again
as you are stabbing me,
I am devouring you
we're hooking on to each other with our claws
to expell the anger with our loins
we tear each other's throats out
with our angry teethy kissing,
mangle each other
only to be restoring ourselves again under tears of despondency,
nailing each other to the wall,
to the table, to the bed
for licking up our wounds and bruises mutually
the ground is tainted with our passion for each other
we'll be getting mellow only then
when death with small steps comes rolling over us
enfolding us once more
as we are gasping snuggled into one another
caressing the red-pearled traces of our scratches
the air after that bad weather being clean
reeking of beastly lust
as I passionately love to be dying with you
a thousand times like in an explosion.

by Sappho of Ancient Greece (ca.630 - 570 B.C.)

freely retranslated into English by Erhard Hans Josef Lang after a
translation into German by philologist Sabine Römmer