VI Carmina
Let us Lie Open, my River, and Let us Love.
The psyche is covered during the day in shadows;
we shudder that we would be driven away, living as exiles,
if we proclaim that same psyche everywhere;
at night, like a lotus set free/bloomed in light,
It, the psyche, punching the mattress, shines, alone, to one person,
who, with an incited shout, frees it, his own psyche.
When we are embraced hand in hand[1], the night,
set free/bloomed, opens, and light expands.
A single soul let us be, one life:
show me the things sacred to you and unfold yourself:
The passion in a running in your veins is of what sort of blood?
For I, laying open for you laying open, still know
that you love me through continuously and ever,
and I you, one loving to the other, us both,
with the love holding for all ages.
I. Patēmus, Mea Flūmina, atque Amēmus[1]
Psȳchē complicitur diem tenēbrīs;
horrēmus nē abigāmur exsulantēs
praedīcāverimus[2] sī eandem ubīquē;
nocte, ut lūmine lōtus absolūta,
pulsans lectula sōla candit ūnō
quī clamōre luit suam citātō.
Cum nōs complicimur manū in manū, nox
absolūta aperit panditque lūmen.
Psȳchē singula sīmus ūna vīta:
monstrā mī tibi sacra et explicā tē:
Quālis sanguinis ardor est cucurrū
in vēnīs? tibi enim patens patentī
jam sciō tē adamāre mē usque et umquam,
mēque tē, alterum amantem ad alterum utrumque[3]
amōre omnia saecula tenente.
The Shining Mark Obscuring
The shining mark is accustomed to coming manifest, beautiful,
onto great pages, and in my hands.
Classes of students are lead although they lack me;
This matter touches no person, but it is a worry to me.
Though a night surrounds me in my mind, the mark overshadows this matter for the others;
Therefore, just in my mind the night will remain.
II. Candida Nōta Obscūrans[5]
Candida nōta solet manifesta venīre beāta
magnās in paginās, in manibusque meīs[6].
Classēs discipulōrum agiuntur cum careat mē;
rēs hominem attingit nullum; cāra mihi.
Amplectente in mente mihī nocte obruit hanc rem
nōta aliīs; quārē mente manēbit nōx.
Vi Wrote VI Poems
Of all of mine there are six poems, so that I may give
to you, magistra, a play of my name,
and reading which you will shout “Euge! I am joyous:
The student of mine now draws out from me laughter—
again! I know that their name is vi, and there are,
bombax, indeed six, and even VI! I will certainly give
This here shining mark.” Thank you.
III. Scripsit Vī[7] VI Carmina[8]
Sunt sex poēmata omnium meōrum ut dem
tibī, magistra, nōminis mihī lūdum,
legensque quem clamābis “Euge! Sum laeta:
ā mē ēlicit jam disciplus[9] meus rīsūs
rursūs! Eī nōmen sciō esse ‘vī,’ suntque,
bombax, quidem sex, atque VI[10]! Dabō certē
Hanc candidam nōtam.” Tibī grātiās.[11]
Autumnal Goddess
The aether, by the flowing autumnal goddess, makes it that
the reddish yellow leaves of the trees are persuaded to spread out
and that they fall onto the no longer green ground,
the aether which is placed[15] cold evenly.
It, by the Autumn, makes it that the flowers of the trees
of summer gently fall, moving/transforming
from shining ones into most fragile bones.
Autumnal (goddess) beloved by me, I ask you:
what do you want me to do so that you may become blessed?
Are you leading[16] me to lie under the oak, in the leaves,
admiring the unplowed fields
and your lovely, beautiful, and beloved by all
form? Oh beloved goddess blessed to me!
IV. Dea Autumnālis[12]
Autumnāle facit deā fluente
vastōs ut folia arborum per agrōs
fulva sternere persuādeantur
in nōn jam viridēs cadantque terrās,
aethēr quī frigidus locātur aequē.
Autumnō facit arborum florēs ut
aestātis leviter cadant moventēs
ab fulgentibus in fragillima ossa.
Autumnālis amāta mī, rogō tē:
quid vīs mē facere ut beāta fīās?
Sub quernō in foliīs jacēre dūcisne[13]
admīrantem inaranda mē aequora atque
formōsam tibi bellam et omnī amātam
formam?[14] Ō dea amāta mī beāta!
Rain over Exeter
This raincloud, walking along, flows
Through the flat expanses of Exeter high up,
And, nourishing, lies for me on the fields,
and feeds the roses; it goes loved.
V. Imber super Exetrum[17]
Hic imber ambulans fluit
per aequora Exetrī supra
et almus incubit mī agrīs
rosāsque alit; amātus it.
A Day of Sun
When the great sun drives a breeze of warmth,
I am driven with splendid life and am joyful.
My limbs ripen and awaken; favor
is breathed in my soul and my heart.
The rain, though it was loved by yesterday’s me,
becomes small and tiny in the great fire,
the both outspreading and brilliant sun.
VI. Diēs Sōlis[18]
Cum sōl magnus agit calōris auram,
vītā splendidā agōr egōque laeta.
Mātūrant vigilantque membra; fāvor
spīrātur mī animō meōque corde.
Imber, cum sit amātus ā mē hesternō,
fit parvus minimusque in igne magnō
oppandenteque candidōque sōle.
Notes
[1] Hendecasyllabic (this is dedicated to my partner River)
[2] Technically, this should be perfect subjunctive (praedīcāverīmus) and not future perfect indicative (praedīcāverimus), since it is in a fear clause (the difference being the length of the second i). However, these two forms are so similar here in both meaning and form that I think it passes?
[3] hypermetric
[4] Or, arm in arm
[5] Elegiac couplet
[6] This phrase either should be accusative (it comes onto pages and [it comes] into my hands) or should exclude ‘que’ (it comes onto pages [which are] in my hands) but I couldn’t get it to work in meter either way
[7] Vī (indecl.) as a Latin transcription of my name
[8] Choliambic
[9] Shortened form of ‘discipulus’ — a pun on ‘discit plus’, the irony being that it’s a botched form, I did not disco plus
[10] Pronounced as ‘vī’ like above or as ‘sex’
[11] Consonantal i
[12] Hendecasyllabic
[13] Hypermetric
[14] Hiatus
[15] Translates better as a middle, ‘places itself’
[16] In the sense of, ‘ordering me to lie’ or ‘making me lie’
[17] Exeter, Exetrī, m., meaning P.E.A.
The first three lines scan as:
˘ ¯ | ˘ ¯ | ˘ ¯ | ˘ X
And the last line scans as:
˘ ¯ ˘ X || ˘ ¯ ˘ X
[18] Hendecasyllabic