Primi Labores
Verba fugacia tirones veteres modulantur;
tardipedes pedibus fallacibus haud potiuntur
Translation
Aging beginners coax recalcitrant meters
Stumbling they give chase as the words slip away
The Dinner Detail
Quisquilias removet purgatque ancilla culinam:
anxietas cenae subito perpellit acuta.
“Heu,” clamat, mox subsidium fert Vesta puellae.
Auxiliante dea pavor hic evanuit. Ecce
carbone in calida stridens instigat orexin
salmo. Intrant alacres recitantes scripta poetae.
Et versus salibus ventrem et farcire volebant.
Translation
She takes out the garbage, and scrubs the place spotless,
But what about dinner, the kitchen maid worries.
“Poor me,” she beseeches; the kitchen gods hear her.
They come to her aid and her courage returns. Soon,
salmon a-sizzle on coals rouses hunger.
Poets composing are drawn to the feast,
hoping to season themselves and their verses with wit.
Venus’ golden mantle clock
Laetitiae genetrix Venus aurea, parva columba,
te caesam subito poscit et hora fugax
Translation
Little dove, golden Venus, the mother of happiness,
and the fleeting hour demand your immediate death.
Fish story
Piscatricem hamo piscis non prodis inhausto,
sed tunica indicat sanguine tincta nigro
Translation
Oh fish, having swallowed the hook, you don’t betray the girl who caught you,
but her shirt, stained with black blood, tells all.