I Nyctidromia vel Cursus Nocturnus

These lines are fragments of a poem I wanted to write in honour of my maternal grandfather, who inspired a love of antiquity in me, and paid for my schooling after my father bolted, but who died when I was thirteen. It begins with a description of me jogging late at night through deserted streets under a starry sky. The sight of the constellation of Orion always reminds me of my grandfather, because on a particular night when I was about five years old, he first pointed out this constellation to me.

Adsoleo transcurrere nocte, micantibus astris,
strata viarum, cum somnum mortalibus urget
Hesperus, exornans splendentes Aetheris arces
atque colores Nox omnino detrahit omnes.

Festino tacitae per amica silentia noctis
distinctus stellis ardet lucentibus aether
igneus astrorum pompa et Trivia aspiciuntur.

inter caelivagos ignes, Orionis astrum,
caelo conspicitur…

cursum curro audacter, avi non immemor almi
almus avus qui ostendit mi caelestia signa

Meter: Dactylic Hexameter

Translation: I am wont to run through the streets by night, while the stars are twinkling, when the the Evening Star, Hesperus, adorning the shining citadels of the sky, urges sleep to mortals, and when Night entirely draws off all colours.

I hasten through the friendly silences of the quiet night…The sky blazes with shining stars…The fiery parade of stars, and Trivia, the Moon, are seen.

Among the welkin-wandering fires, the constellation of Orion is beheld in the heavens . . .

I run my course boldly, mindful of my loving grandfather, my loving grandfather, who pointed out to me the celestial bodies.