| | Posted on Mon Sep 28, 2009 18:35:20 | |
| | How many translations seem stilted and lack flow? What's important in translation is not so much how well you understand the original language, but how well you can write your own. And metre helps to provide that flow.
Sparrow, beloved of my girl –
with whom she likes to play, to hold
to her breast, to give her finger-tip
to reach for and provoke sharp pecks
whenever it pleases my lustrous longing
to make some sort of silly joke
as solace to your sadness (I judge)
so that your stifling ardour cools –
could I but play with you like her
and lighten my mind’s sombre cares!
From: "The Poems of Catullus" by John Lambert. | |
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