Poetry Alive

Carmen 7, by Gaius Valerius Catullus Catullus was a Roman poet of the first century BC. His poems, though greatly revered by such canonical authors as Virgil and Ovid, survived in only one manuscript; possibly because many of his poems were considered too explicit. His poems include epigrams, hymns, mini-epics, and short, often informal poems. Catullus is especially remembered for his love poems like this one, to "Lesbia." Quaeris, quot mihi basiationes tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque. quam magnus numerus Libyssae harenae lasarpiciferis iacet Cyrenis oraclum Iovis inter aestuosi et Batti veteris sacrum sepulcrum; aut quam sidera multa, cum tacet nox, furtivos hominum vident amores: tam te basia multa basiare vesano satis et super Catullo est, quae nec pernumerare curiosi possint nec mala fascinare lingua. You ask how many of your kisses, Lesbia, will be enough for me. As many as the great number of Libyan sands that lie in flower-rich Cyrene, between the oracle of sweltering Jove and Old Battus' sacr