Against Mountaintop CoalMining, or, Sweet Appalachian Mountain Spring (yet another work in progress).





summa vidēs montis praecīsa, cacūmina dempta,
(pīnūs hīc steterant, crescit ubī lolium)?
umbrōsas sinuit per quercūs flumina rīvus,
squāmeus et lūsit gurgite grex tepidō.
Aspice, nunc latebrās ut compleat ārida arēna...

Do you see the top of the mountain, shorn off,
its majestic heights removed?
Here, pines had stood,
where now the darnel grows.
There, the brook unfolded its streams
between the shadowy oaks,
and the scaly flock played in the warm waters.
Look, how the dry sand now fills their haunts...

To Camilla (Work in Progress)
inspired by Vergil, Aen 7.803-811

Curre, cucurristī per tōtam, fulminis instar,
vītam; strinxistī |* aequora nec pedibus.
_____
*utrum possint hiātūs apud hanc sēdem esse, nesciō; sed hīc hiātus poētae placet.

Run!
Resplendent and swift, like a thunderbolt,
you've run your whole life
nor did your feet ever graze the plain
as you ran.

Poem for my Gallic Girl (work in progress)






Cantus sit Gallae, sī sint mea carmina digna;
Quid mea fīt Gallā scripta rogante? Labor.
Hīc labor optimus est: elegīam scrībere Gallae;
Hōc tibi sī placeat, Galla, poēma, bonum est!


Let my Gallic girl have song
if my songs are worthy.

What happens when she asks for one,
written out? Hard work.

But it is excellent work,
to write song for her.

If this poem please you,
Gallic beauty, only then is it good.

Prayer from the Front
Work in Progress





"Ō gemma pontī pulchra Sarōnicī
quam prōtegunt castae Artemidis manūs
tūtāmen estō cīvitātis:
nūmine mox redeam volente."

"O fine jewel of the Saronic Bay
whom the hands of chaste Diana protect
Be thou a bulwark for the citizens:
If god so will, I shall soon return..."

Patroclus ut Achillis īra minuātur precātur.



"Furōris ardens et nimis ignibus
accense, flectī tē sine carmine
ut fonte pūrō dēminūta est
flamma furensve fugātus Auster

maris potentī, nam cohibet manūs
vī turma Grāiās Hectoreā tenax:
Lux nostra, iam dēpōne saevam
rōbora quā pereunt Achaea

īram, minus hāc sī moveam prece,
incerta saltem tē moneat tuba
nōn sustinērī posse Phoebō
tēla diū Lycia adiuvante."


Patroklos prays that Akhilleus' anger be assuaged.

"O blazing and too roused by anger's fires
Be thou bent and softened by this prayer
just as flames are lessened by pure waters
or the South wind, which flees at Neptune's bidding.

For the Trojan squadron, holding fast
by Hector's might, hems in the Danaan troops.
O, our saving light, now lay aside
the savage anger by which

our best now die. And if I not move you
by this prayer, then at least let
the uncertain trumpets' blare remind you
that Lycian arrows can not much longer
be withstood, so long as Apollo helps their side."

Soon to Graduate

O, ērudītīs praeposita artibus
tē, docta prōles, fronte Iovis sata (et)
Mūsae novem, vōs, turba mīra,
rēgia prōtegit Arx piandās.

O, you, set in charge of the liberal arts,
skilled offspring, born of Zeus' forehead,
and you, Muses nine, marvelous throng,
you goddesses, fit for reverence,
this royal citadel protects.

Alternative last Stanzas

(1)

omnēs - tuam ad laudem - scopulōs suā
rēplet sonōrōs harmoniā; modīs
mīrīs resultat rūpes omnis;
alta sonō feriuntur astra

(2)

Neptune, O, regnī scopulōs tuī
rēplet sonōrōs laudibus; et modīs
mīrīs resultat rūpes omnis;
omne specus sonat; omne lītus.