translation of a poem by Plato

Posted by kabouter on July 17, 1997 at 21:14:04:

in the original greek

Asteras eisathreis, Aster emos Eithe genoimen ouranos 'os pollois ommasin eis se blepo. PLATON

Translation by kabouter:

Are you looking at the stars? My Aster, gazing out? Would that I could be the skies that with a thousand starry eyes I could look on you. PLATO

notes:
1.Aster was a common boys' name in the part of Greece where Plato lived
2. Aster is a greek word meaning STAR
3. It was common for men to write graffiti on the public walls extolling the beauty of their favourite boy and Plato may have had this in mind when composing this short, sweet panegyric.
4. When Percy Bysshe Shelley translated this poem 200 years ago he substituted the woman's name STELLA for ASTER (you can read it in any anthology of his work as "For Stella")