As a creative assignment done for her literature humanities class at Columbia University, Giovanna Napoleone fills in some of the missing blanks of Sappho's ancient Greek poetry that has been lost to time. During her fall semester of university in 2021, she read the poetry collection "If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho" by Sappho in order to fill in the blanks of her poetry accurately with the same tone of voice used in the original writings. The bold black text within the poem below indicates what has been written by Sappho, and the non-bolded parts are those added by Giovanna through the creative writing process.
"...may it happen to me all at once, softly in the light of the sun."
Fragments of Sappho - Fragment #63
By Giovanna Napoleone
Dream of black earth and deathless Aphrodite,
how quietly you come roaming and when sleep overcomes all,
I pray to a sweet god, terribly from pain and dripping with longing,
to hold the strength separate from the beauty of the Muse.
Men arm for battle and ships sail back from Troy,
but I expect not to share nothing of the blessed ones whose grace is bright golden
with young men who have fought for glory
for I would not be like this harsh realm of
toys and have dreams without holy songs.
After suffering, play the lyre,
but may it happen to me all at once,
softly in the light of the sun.