Sacred Precincts - from the "Voices and Visions" Fort Mason Printmakers portfolio

Gail Ann Packer

From the portfolio of 22 etchings by 22 artists, titled "Voice and Visions: A Book of Poems and Etchings." Printed by the Fort Mason Printmakers in San Francisco under the direction of Eleanor Rappe, each work was inspired by a poem of the artist's choice, corresponding to their assigned category: Part I, Of Love and Loss; Part II, Upon the Earth; Part III, Under the Heavens; Part IV, Journeys of the Mind; and Part V, Metamorphoses.

This print is from the first category: Of Love and Loss. Its corresponding poem was "You Know the Place" by Sappho (ca. 6th century BC):

You know the place: then / Leave Crete and come to us / waiting where the grove is / pleasantest, by / precincts sacred to you; incense / smokes on the altar, cold / streams murmur through theapple branches, a young / rose thicket shades the ground / and quivering leaves pour down deep sleep; in meadows / where horses have grown sleek / among spring flowers, dill scents the air. Queen! Cyprian! / Fill our gold cups with love / stirred into clear nectar