Priapeia

Priaepia

by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers

  1. And hide time-loosened thou with coynte-rime bewrayed
  2. And hung in cobwebs fain shalt block the way.
  3. Such prize is thine who thrice and four times shalt
  4. Engulf thy lecherous head in fosse profound.
  5. Though sick or languid lie thou, still thou must
  6. Rasp her till wretched, wretched thou shalt fill
  7. Thrice or e'en fourfold times her cavernous gape;
  8. And naught this haughty sprite shall 'vail thee when
  9. Plunging thine errant head in plashing mire.
  10. Why lies it lazy? Doth its sloth displease thee?
  11. For once thou mayest weaken it unavenged;