V.

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus...

Lesbia live with me, Lesbia love with me,
Share every joy beneath heavens above with me.
We both know the moans of the ultra-respectable
Aren’t worth a cent – whereas life is delectable.
The sun that this evening is setting will rise again
In the bright morning to gladden our eyes again;
But people aren’t days, and – let’s face actuality –
Mere human lives are defined by mortality.
While we can, let’s express all the passion that’s brewed in us
With kisses, electric, inspired, multitudinous.
Give me kisses! A hundred, a thousand, then more again,
Then thousands more in a thrilling encore again,
Till the goggling prudes are reduced to docility,
Silenced and stunned by sheer uncountability.

Gaius Valerius Catullus

Rather freely translated by George Simmers


Engraving by William Blake, based on a statue of Catullus at Verona, his birthplace.
No, it's not my idea of what Catullus looked like, either.


If you have any thoughts about this translation, George Simmers  would be pleased to hear them.