And since you are my friend
λέχος ἄρνυσο νεώτερον·
Get yourself a younger bedmate
οὐ γὰρ τλάσομ' ἔγω συνοί-
For I can’t bear to keep house together
κην ἔοισα γεραιτέρα ...
Being the elder
—Sappho (Lobel-Page fragment 121.
Translation by Jim Powell)
At twenty,
The interminable waiting
Over an aerobed's slow inflating,
The hair dryer's hot-pink tip
Poised at the lip
Of the valve, the rude plast-
Ic cap, and me, and she—
None of us getting screwed fast.
At fifty,
My once-stiff vinyl bed
Grows slowly flaccid,
And your willingness to patch it
Deserves an ardor, love, to match it.
Go home. I'll sleep alone
Tonight, and rise at three
To take a slow leak of my own.
•
You say you'll fuck old
Randy me, right here, right now,
On this antique?
My belt shall stay buckled.
You've time to hear a few
Brand-new beds squeak
Before I learn from you
To play the cuckold.
•
My bed is old, and cold, though you might be hot in it.
Find a newer bed, dear friend—my heart is not in it.
•
My bed is your age!
Go find a younger lover.
I haven't got the courage
Forever to be older.
