“Lugete, O Veneres Cupidenesque, et quantum est hominum
venustiorum.”
C. Valerius Catullus.
I BID you all, ye Loves and Cupids, mourn,
With what of pitying kindness men may know.
The sparrow of my little maid forlorn
Ay, even my sweetheart’s sparrow, cherished so,
(Loved like her very eyes, ah heavy woe!)
Is dead. Full sweet was he, and knew her well
As she her mother knew, nor long would stray
From her fair breast, save here to hop, or there;
His pretty pipings were for her alway.
Yet now he wings the shadowy gloom of Hell,
Whence none return to breathe Earth’s pleasant air.
But curses on thee, dark and evil shade
So to engulf all things that lovely be!
Thou’st robbed her sparrow from my little maid;
(Alas the crime, the sparrow stark and dead!)
And now with swollen eyes, because of thee
She weeps, alack, nor will be comforted.