nox tibi longa venit, nec reditura dies.
atque utinam haerentis sic nos vincire catena
velles, ut numquam solveret ulla dies!
exemplo iunctae tibi sint in amore columbae,
masculus et totum femina coniugium.
errat, qui finem vesani quaerit amoris:
verus amor nullum novit habere modum.
terra prius falso partu deludet arantis,
et citius nigros Sol agitabit equos,
fluminaque ad caput incipient revocare liquores,
aridus et sicco gurgite piscis erit,
quam possim nostros alio transferre dolores:
huius ero vivus, mortuus huius ero." —
While fate permits us, let us sate our eyes with love:
the long night with no dawn is drawing near.
If only you would bind us both in this embrace
with bonds no day would ever see released!
Let doves be your example, when they are joined in love,
male and female, in one perfect whole.
He errs, who seeks to set a term to furious love:
true love does not know any boundaries.
The earth will sooner mock the plowman with false yield,
the Sun will sooner spur on darkened steeds,
and the rivers begin to call their streams back to their sources,
and the seas drain off, leaving the fishes dry,
before I ever turn my passion to another:
while I live I am hers, hers will I be in death.
Elegiae 15, Sexti Properti Elegiarvm Liber Secvndvs, trans.Jon Corelis, Sextus Propertius (50-45 b.C, 15-2.b.C)
(Source: poetmuse)
