#5 - To Lesbia, Counting Kisses

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus

rumoresque senum severiorum

omnes unius aestimemus assis!

Soles occidere et redire possunt;

nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux,

nox est perpetua una dormienda.

Da mi basia mille, deinde centum;

dein mille altera, dein secunda centum;

deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.

Dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,

conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,

aut ne quis malus invidere possit,

cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.

~Catullus

Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love

and the rumors of grave old men

let us value at one penny!

The stars are not able to set and return;

when the brief light has set for us,

one everlasting night must be slept.

Give to me a thousand kisses, then a hundred;

next another thousand, afterward second hundred;

then still another thousand, then a hundred.

Then, when we have made many thousands of kisses

we shall confuse them, lest we know,

or lest anyone evil can envy us,

when he knows that there are so many kisses.