XI IMPATIENCE
Mitchell S. (Mitchell Starrett) Buck translation
I THREW myself into her arms and wept and for a long time she felt my hot tears slip over her shoulders; then, when my sorrow let me speak:
“Alas, I am only a child; the young men never look at me. When will I have, like thee, a young woman’s breasts to raise my robe and entice kisses?
“There are no curious eyes if my tunic slips; no one gathers up the flower that falls from my hair, nor does anyone threaten to kill me if my mouth is given to another.”
She replied to me tenderly: “Bilitis, little virgin, thou criest like a cat at the moon and thou art troubled without reason. The girls who are most impatient are not the soonest chosen.”