One plays a poet who starts up a band of his own

[sovay]

For asakiyume, Catullus 7:

You ask me how many of those kisses
of yours, Lesbia, are enough and more?
As many as number the sands of Libya
that lie in Cyrene rich in silphium
between the oracle of sultry Jupiter
and Battus the ancestor's sacred tomb
or as many stars as in the silenced night
watch the stolen loves of mortals—
to kiss you so many of those kisses
is, for crazy Catullus, enough and more,
which the curious will never tally up
nor use with wicked tongue to cast a spell.

Comments

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

Yay! Another triumph.

I love the way the interlocking between poems 7 and 5 is replicated in your translations of both poems. Lovely. :)

[sovay]

Another triumph.

I'm very glad!

(It matters that you think so, seriously. Thank you.)

I love the way the interlocking between poems 7 and 5 is replicated in your translations of both poems. Lovely.

I really like these poems.

[seishonagon.livejournal.com]

I love these poems too. Catullus in general leaves me in awe; his range is spectacular, and there are very few poets in the Latin language who have his facility with word choice or meter, much less with both at the same time.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

You have made it a beautiful day. Two beautiful days in a row, by the clock.

I was puzzled how you would work all the proper names in there. You've done well with it, in my not at all scholarly or informed opinion. There was a lot to stumble over, and nothing went splat.

[sovay]

You have made it a beautiful day. Two beautiful days in a row, by the clock.

Fortunately, this gives me nearly twenty-one hours to come up with something else . . .

There was a lot to stumble over, and nothing went splat.

Thank you. I think I read Catullus for the first time in 1998, so I should have a decent shot at him by now.

(Also, I just like him very much.)

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, this gives me nearly twenty-one hours to come up with something else . . .

Fanfic in trade for boyporn!

Or you could just do another Catullus. :)

"or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Stars salt the sky, that we may feast upon it
Let me slice this darkness for you
You take it, eat, then kiss me
So I may taste it on your lips
And whatever stars may linger on them
Those last faint shining flakes
You have not claimed
With your own tongue

[sovay]

Stars salt the sky, that we may feast upon it
Let me slice this darkness for you

SEND THIS SOMEWHERE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CONTEMPORARY CATULLUS-INSPIRED EROTIC POETRY IN THE WORLD I MEAN IT

I like that.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you for translating Catullus for me and all of us. What beautiful stuff.

Re: "or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Wait, wait, I thought it was you having a shake at some fragment of untranslated arcana I had not read. If you wrote that, you have to send it somewhere! I wish I knew where. It is intense, immediate, and rather amazing.

Re: "or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I wish I was able to translate poetry from Latin! No, that was just me, because of all those stars and kisses...

I will try to send it somewhere. (May have to take it off here, though, if I do...)

Re: "or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Well, we'd see it again in print.

Did you just pome right out in the comment field, or had you had it lying by? If you have more like it, you might see if Papaveria Press would do one of their extraordinary little books.

Re: "or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Sovay left me her translation in a comment to her previous translation, and after reading it there, and before seeing it here, I got to thinking about the stars as being like salt, and so I was playing with the idea in my head, I guess? But then yeah, I wrote it up in the comment field.

Alas, no more like it... well, or, I mean, I have bunches of poems, but . . . well, maybe one day I'll collect a bunch of them and show them to Erzebet.

Re: "or as many stars as in the silenced night..."

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Alas, no more like it... well, or, I mean, I have bunches of poems, but . . . well, maybe one day I'll collect a bunch of them and show them to Erzebet.

You are the universe's or just sovay's revenge on me for all these years of whingeing about publishing things well, maybe, kinda, sorta, someday, but who would read them? *laughs*

By which I mean, I understand and offer hugs.

*tips a cup to sovay*
You're right; it is hard making people believe in themselves.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's awesome.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Truly.

Nine

[sovay]

Okay, that's awesome.

It's Catullus. He's good.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Oh, beautifully done!

Nine

[sovay]

Oh, beautifully done!

Thank you!

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

*absolutely awed*

[sovay]

*absolutely awed*

He's one of my favorite poets.

Thank you.

[larryhammer]

Excellent.

---L.

[sovay]

Excellent.

Thank you!

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

...Catullus was a huge geography geek, wasn't he?

[sovay]

...Catullus was a huge geography geek, wasn't he?

I think it's the neoteric thing.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Tis lovely, this, and I'm regretting I amn't better able to find a phrase worthy of it.

[sovay]

Tis lovely, this, and I'm regretting I amn't better able to find a phrase worthy of it.

I am very glad you like it all the same.