Homeward I sail to the shores of Lesbos

Sappho is my Siren

Once outward bound I faced away

And saw not home and comfort

My course was plotted by others’ hands

To learn the worldly way

And seek what others sought before

Our nature to betray

We did not know the sails we set

Were sewn by hands so foreign

That we would lose the memory

Of lands where we were born

And now in foreign lands we laughed

We met our sisters old

But found them bound to strangers’ hands

Whose touch seemed coarse and cold

And knowing not our nature true

We begged and served as they

Believing we would learn this world

And change it to our way

But natives we would never be

We could not change our skin

For we were fair and they were coarse

And would not let us in

To one another did we turn

Despairing of the touch

Of hands which took but would not give

The things we need so much

So hear we now the Siren call

That carries ‘cross the wind

And draws us back to lands we left

To family and kin

To Sisterhood we draw our ships

To Lesbos we aspire

And in her folding arms we hold

Each other in desire

(c) 2007 Bethany Ariel Frasier