The voice of the Greek poetess Sappho of Lesbos has lost none of its magic over more than two and a half thousand years. Her poems are part of the literary world heritage. With this translation and explanation, the reader is once again brought closer to a cornerstone of early Greek poetry. Plato bestowed upon her the honorary title of "the tenth Muse." In the famous Library of Alexandria, her poems filled nine volumes. Roman poets celebrated her as one of their role models. Catullus and Horace passed down the so-called Sapphic stanza she invented; it became part of the formal language of European poetry and remains alive to this day. However, only a small portion of her songs, which were sung in the girls' circle she led on Lesbos and at the weddings of her students, has survived - most of it has been lost.