Prologue

On the Cliff

Age seizes my
skin

And turns my hair

From black to white:

My legs no longer carry me

Lightly, nimbly

Dancing like young fawns.

What can I do?

I am not eternal

Though my songs may be.

Can pink-armed Dawn,

Who could not save her love

Erase these harbingers of age?

My youth is gone.

Still I adore

The sun.

Excerpted from SAPPHO'S LEAP © Copyright 2011 by Erica
Jong. Reprinted with permission by W. W. Norton. All rights
reserved.