Let us live, Lycia, and love
and value at one red cent
all the world’s jealous whispers.
Suns may set and rise again–
but for us, when the day winks out,
there remains to be slept the sleep of one unbroken night.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
then another thousand, then a second hundred,
then yet a thousand, and a hundred more…
Then.
When we have blushed many thousands,
we will confuse our counting so the kiss’ed number we know not,
and with this,
turn all envious eyes to admiration
when they find that our kisses are
so many.
Carmina V, για Λυκίας Πόντου, primus ab stylo de Gaiem Valeriem Catullem scribat
(cc) BY-NC-SA V.3, Benjamin G. Griffin Friday 11th November, 2011. Thanks to H.Walker’s capable translation here