VIII. THE STIFF UPPER LIP (To Lesbia, by Valerius Catullus

Poor Catullus! Cease your madness!
Realise that love is dead.
Once your days were gay with gladness
As you followed where she led.

Never will another lady
Know such great abiding love:
In those gardens, cool and shady,
With the bright blue sky above.

Did you voice your burning passion
As you whiled the hours away,
And your lady, in her fashion,
Lured you on, nor said you nay?

Now, her lovely self denying,
Cease to seek her, cease to mourn;
Turn your thought away from dying,
Slave of passion, all forlorn!

Be courageous in your sorrow.
Bear your loss with constant mind.
Haply you will meet to-morrow
Someone else as sweet and kind.

Farewell, Lady! Now your poet,
Strong once more, resumes his task.
He'll not seek you; now you know it,
Nor your languid favours ask!

Some day you'll be sad and lonely -
What remains in life for you?
None will think you lovely - only
Fear the things they know you do.

Who would take the love you offer?
No man's mistress will you be!
And, Catullus, though she proffer
Peace, stand firm in enmity!

English verse by
J.A.B. HARRISSON MBE DSC (1909-1983)

LXXXIII. CONSOLATION

Lesbia, when her husband's present,
Utters comments most unpleasant,
And this to him, poor fool, is sheer delight.
You senseless idiot! lf she
Had totally forgotten me,
Then you could say for sure that she's alright:
But now, because she snarls and curses,
I'm on her mind, but what's much worse is
Her attitude! it's one of ceaseless ire -
And so the more that Lesbia natters
At me, the less to me it matters -
For where there's talk there's thought, which breeds desire.

LXXXVII. MY TRUE LOVE HAS MY HEART

There's none can say that she was ever loved.
(At least, with truth) as you've been loved by me.
I tell you, Lesbia, there never was
In any bond so great a loyalty
As that which I'd the fortune to discover
When first I had the luck to be your lover!

XCII. TIT FOR TAT

Lesbia's always sounding off -
She never can keep quiet!
I suppose it means she loves me:
To prove the point, I'll try it!
For her I'll have no word that's kind,
Though I love her just as much I'll find!

CIX. THE PROMISE

Sweetheart, you promise that our love shall be
A thing of beauty and a joy for ever.
Oh, may the gods grant this was honestly
Your purpose - that the bond be broken never,
And that we two be bound for ever Though I love her just as much I'll find! fast
In bonds of love so long as life shall last.