Unrequited: Stolen Kisses and the
Consequences
|
Name: Catullus Date: 84 – 54 BCE Region: Verona / Cisalpine Gaul [modern northern
Italy] Citation: Poem 99 |
While you were distracted, sweet Juventius,
I stole a kiss from you.
It was sweeter than the sweetest honey.
But I didn't get away with it, for the next hour
I felt utterly tortured and alone.
For although I tried to apologize, my
tears could not
Temper an ounce of your savage response.
As soon as I did it, you wiped the kiss off your lips,
Rubbing it off with each and every finger
So not a trace of my lips remained on yours,
As if I were contaminated and dirty.
You didn't hesitate to hurt me,
As I suffered from a love unreturned.
You tortured me in every way,
And now you turned a kiss, once as sweet to me as honey
Into something sad, the bitterest poison.
So now I've learned my lesson, I've paid my penalty,
And I’ll never steal another kiss again.
Unrequited: Stolen Kisses and the
Consequences
Surripui tibi, dum ludis,
mellite Juventi,
suaviolum dulci dulcius
ambrosia.
Verum id non impune tuli:
namque amplius horam
suffixum in summa me memini
esse cruce,
dum
tibi me purgo, nec possum fletibus ullis
tantillum vestrae demere
saevitiae.
Nam simul id factum est,
multis diluta labella
guttis abstersti omnibus
articulis,
ne quicquam nostro contractum
ex ore maneret,
tamquam commictae spurca
saliva lupae.
Praeterea infesto miserum me
tradere amori
non cessati omnique
excruciare modo,
ut mi ex ambrosia mutatum iam
foret illud
suaviolum tristi tristius
elleboro.
Quam quoniam poenam misero
proponis amori,
numquam iam posthac basia
surripiam.
Catullus [Gaius Valerius Catullus; 84 – 54 BCE, modern Italy] was
a Roman statesman born in Verona [modern Italy] who lived during the tumultuous
last days of the Roman Republic. His
poetry offers rare insight into the lives of people who lived during his time
period. Like Propertius and Tibullus, Catullus used a pseudonym for the objects
of his attention; many of his love poems were addressed to either “Lesbia” or
“Juventius.”
