Lyric Poem · Love

One Girl (A Combination from Sappho)

by Sappho · translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Reading room

1Like the sweet apple which reddens upon the topmost bough,

2A-top on the topmost twig, — which the pluckers forgot, somehow, —

3Forgot it not, nay, but got it not, for none could get it till now.

4Like the wild hyacinth flower which on the hills is found,

5Which the passing feet of the shepherds for ever tear and wound,

6Until the purple blossom is trodden in the ground.

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“One Girl (A Combination from Sappho)” by Sappho — quilloak.com/poems/sappho-one-girl

Quick facts

Poem: One Girl (A Combination from Sappho)
Poet: Sappho
Length: 6 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Love, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 6 lines · 2 tercets
Line length: Lines run 13-16 syllables (median 15). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

The translation is treated as a separate work and reviewed from the cited historical edition.

Author record: Sapphoc. 630–570 BC
Source record: Cited historical translationOne Girl (A Combination from Sappho); Poems, 1870
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Poems, 1870
Translation: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 6c68205c118c5fcc…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Love Short

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