Carmina

Catullus

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus. Burton, Sir Richard Francis, translator. London, Printed for the Translators, 1894.

That fairer femininety

Clear day outdawned from Ocean stream

Shall ever more behold.

Such in the many-tinted bower

Of rich man's garden passing gay

Upstands the hyacinthine flower.

But thou delayest, wanes the day:

“Prithee, come forth new Bride.”

Prithee, come forth new Bride! methinks,

Drawing in sight, the talk we hold

Thou haply hearest. See the Links!

How shake their locks begilt with gold:

Prithee, new Bride come forth.

Not lightly given thy mate to ill

Joys and adulterous delights

Foul fleshly pleasures seeking still

Shall ever choose he lie o' nights

Far from thy tender paps.

But as with pliant shoots the vine

Round nearest tree-trunk winds her way,