Notes from Source: A lyric poem is a highly concentrated action in which every letter and syllable counts. For example, consider Sappho’s poem in which a single consonant rises up and obliterates the life of the poem’s addressee: κατθάνοισα δὲ κείσῃ οὐδέ ποτα μναμοσύνα σέθεν ἔσσετ’ οὐδὲ πόθα εἰς ὔστερον οὐ γὰρ πεδέχῃς βρόδων τὼν ἐκ Πιερίας, ἀλλ҆ ἀφάνης κἀν Ἀίδα δόμῳ φοιτάσῃς πεδ’ ἀμαύρων νεκύων ἐκπεποταμένα. (fr. 55 L-P)¹ Dead you will lie and not ever memory of you will be nor desire into the aftertime. For you will have no share in the roses of Pieria but invisibletooin the