Saffo

Altro, che’l proprio senno, haver’n uso

Specchio non voglio ala mia bella imago.

Di fiori il crine inghirlandar ricuso,

Troppo il lauro mel rende adorno, e vago

Tratto la penna in vece d’ago, e fuso,

E pur la penna ancor m’è fuso, & ago,

Onde di stame adamantino ordita 

Lavoro ala mia fama eterna vita.

Sappho

I do not want to raise a mirror to my beautiful likeness, 

beyond that of my own judgment.

I refuse to garland my head with flowers,

The laurel crown is more than enough. 

I wield neither needle nor thread, but pen.

This pen is my loom, 

warped with diamond thread. With it 

I work at that which lives beyond my life.