Sappho

POW!! With a flash of blinding light and a sudden dropping sensation, you find yourself on all fours on a hard marble floor. Looking up and blinking your eyes, you see that you are in a Greek temple, kneeling before a brightly painted statue of a beautiful blonde goddess. The inscription (which, to your wonder, you are able to read) reveals that you are in the Temple of Aphrodite. Looking down at yourself, you find that you are wearing a white toga and sandals.

The sound of approaching footsteps startles you, and you quickly dash into the only hinding place you see, which is behind the statue itself. Seconds later, several women enter the temple, all of them very beautiful, dressed only in simple white robes and wearing olive-leaf crowns upon their heads. The one at the front is strikingly beautiful, with dark olive skin and shining black hair. She wears no makeup but she needs none.

The women stop before the statue and kneel as one, touching thier foreheads to the marble floors. The one in front rises first, approaches the statue. You are certain she would see you if she were not so transfixed upon the face of Aphrodite as she speaks...

. Leave Krete and come to this holy temple

. where the graceful grove of apple trees

. circles an altar smoking with frankincense.

. Here roses leave shadows on the ground

. and cold springs bubble through apple branches

. where shuddering leaves pour down profound sleep.

Although she speaks in ancient Greek, you are able to understand every word - enough to know that an English translation would pale before the fluid sound of her verse.

. In our meadow where horses graze

. and wild flowers of spring blossom,

. anise shoots fill the air with aroma.

. And here, Queen Aphrodite, pour

. heavenly nectar into gold cups

. and fill them gracefully with sudden joy...

As you watch, transfixed, the woman (who you realize must be the poet Sappho) steps up to the statue and reverently kisses the red-painted lips. A sigh rises from the women in the audience.

Sappho turns back to her congregation and says, "Now let us do homage to our Goddess. Let her temple be filled with offerings of love!"

As one, the women all let their robes drop to the floor, revealing twelve gorgeous naked bodies. Deliberately, Sappho steps down from the statue and, one by one, kisses each of the women on the lips. Each of them, having been kissed by the poet, turns to the woman next to her and begins to make out passionately.

You get the feeling that this is something they'd really rather you weren't there to witness!