Entry tags:
Passer mortuus est meae puellae
Talulah died this afternoon. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
threetimes and I were holding her in the vet office, waiting for the doctor. She fluttered, stiffened, relaxed, and was gone.
Home again, I need to keep my eyes and hands full. A clumsy translation of 3 Catullus, along with Talulah's memory, has occupied this last hour. I'll not think of the many hours to come.
Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque,
et quantum est hominum venustiorum:
passer mortuus est meae puellae,
passer, deliciae meae puellae,
quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.
Nam mellitus erat suamque norat
ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem,
nec sese a gremio illius movebat,
sed circumsiliens modo huc modo illuc
ad solam dominam usque pipiabat.
Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum
illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.
At vobis male sit, malae tenebrae
Orci, quae omnia bella devoratis:
tam bellum mihi passerem abstulistis.
O factum male! O miselle passer!
Tua nunc opera meae puellae
flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.
Mourn, Graces and Loves,
and all those loved by such.
The sparrow of my girl is dead,
the sparrow, pet of my girl,
whom she loved more than her eyes themselves;
for he was honey-sweet, and knew her
the same as a girl knows her mother.
Not stirring from her lap,
but hopping about here and there,
he was continually cooing only to his mistress.
Now he goes along a shadowy way,
to a place from where they say no one returns.
But curses on you, wicked shades
of Orcus, who devour all things of beauty:
for you have taken away my beautiful sparrow.
Oh, cruelty! Poor sparrow!
Now all because of you, my girl's dear eyes
are heavy and red with tears.
I have no doubt battered sense and syntax, and it is a poorer offering to the gods than knucklebones. But I wonder, did I live only to see so much death?
threetimes and I were holding her in the vet office, waiting for the doctor. She fluttered, stiffened, relaxed, and was gone.Home again, I need to keep my eyes and hands full. A clumsy translation of 3 Catullus, along with Talulah's memory, has occupied this last hour. I'll not think of the many hours to come.
Lugete, O Veneres Cupidinesque,
et quantum est hominum venustiorum:
passer mortuus est meae puellae,
passer, deliciae meae puellae,
quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.
Nam mellitus erat suamque norat
ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem,
nec sese a gremio illius movebat,
sed circumsiliens modo huc modo illuc
ad solam dominam usque pipiabat.
Qui nunc it per iter tenebricosum
illuc, unde negant redire quemquam.
At vobis male sit, malae tenebrae
Orci, quae omnia bella devoratis:
tam bellum mihi passerem abstulistis.
O factum male! O miselle passer!
Tua nunc opera meae puellae
flendo turgiduli rubent ocelli.
Mourn, Graces and Loves,
and all those loved by such.
The sparrow of my girl is dead,
the sparrow, pet of my girl,
whom she loved more than her eyes themselves;
for he was honey-sweet, and knew her
the same as a girl knows her mother.
Not stirring from her lap,
but hopping about here and there,
he was continually cooing only to his mistress.
Now he goes along a shadowy way,
to a place from where they say no one returns.
But curses on you, wicked shades
of Orcus, who devour all things of beauty:
for you have taken away my beautiful sparrow.
Oh, cruelty! Poor sparrow!
Now all because of you, my girl's dear eyes
are heavy and red with tears.
I have no doubt battered sense and syntax, and it is a poorer offering to the gods than knucklebones. But I wonder, did I live only to see so much death?
