#latin
we would rather discern a fleeting renunciation than transmute these destitute ends.. but I grasp what needs to be catalyzed in hindsight.
I wouldn't trade this execrable disdain that echo through the night, cause you taught me radical honesty..
Surreptitiously as these circumstances engrain, you're teaching me accountability without self flagellation.
Persiflage tides that drown these ambition, shows me that our words need to flourish, not erode and to respect your own sovereignty.
The Fabrics of our Anatomy and the center point of singularity seems like a blissful illustration that yields us to stop negotiating with ghosts of our past that haunts our desires for this embellishing entanglement.
A nervous systematic disposition we have here, a conjunction of eccentricities I still have to decipher.
Along with the idiosyncrasies I trace upon the lines of her fragile nature. Abdored and abhored alone the same poles we dance through.
As the Incremental waves of beauty and desolate reverberating measures throw my faculties asunder from a structural love, instead of an optional one. Easy to say, the reflection is refractive bound we must learn to adhere to, so I'm done chasing, the dynamic ends as...
The adscititious wavelengths that convalesce Innately in her, disposes her complex anatomical snare that once seemed impeded, to realize the root of this dismal length.. but the intense limerence entailed a familiarity that transverse world's that resides beneath those eyes, a reflection Innately the atoms danced to.
"Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo" ( if I cannot sway heaven, than I will raise hell) for there is no heaven like here and no hell I wouldn't endure.
"Fluctuat nec mergitur"( she is tossed by the waves but doesn't sink) a symbolistic resilience that is admirable.. as our problems root from the mirror tendencies we haven't resolved but peace is the pinnacle of our unfortunate aptness to defragrate our inclinations. This I must meditate upon, and integrate eventually. So we quit burning the seams woven inbetween us and the propensity we once crystallized.
At least it's animating as much as alienating. Until next time.
Where Namaste relatively seems dimensions away but somehow prevalent. Until we cross again.
_ Twins at times feel more intense than intimate.. but I presupposes I'm ready for this hopefully resounding interlude.
Apr 16
Apr 16, 2026 at 12:10 AM UTC
o, giddy flame, why lead thou me so far away?
long into the night and far into the waters have i sought your solace.
yet, not a thing have i found that will this darkness keep at bay.
why do you elude me so?
o, sweet igni, why keep thou to thyself thy precious light?
Apr 11
Apr 11, 2026 at 9:10 PM UTC
ecce viae geminae vertunt sylvestribus umbrīs
quod doleō neque enim bīnās ego carpere possum
nec revocāre gradūs iaciātur ut ālea rētrō
fāta sinunt hominēs. hūc illūc mente volūtō
quae vītam laudis reddat quae vincula Lēthēs
undae. prōvideam nē mī fortūna gubernet.
nunc haec quā impendent frondēs via dūcit in umbrās.
non tamen insignis minus umbrā et frondibus illa,
errantī in speciē quam fīdens esse mihi aptam
trīvī equidem trītū nōn ipsam grāmine egentem.
immo ipsum transīre ferē par trīverat ambās.
illō māne tamen quodquod carpsissem iter herbae
iam līmen fīnemque umbrābant lūmine līmō.
ō via sum fātus quandōque redīre placēbit
ad tē. sed noscens ut sēsē aliīs via flectat,
sī poterō revocāre mihī dubiō fuit errans.
quod doluī graviter longē volventibus annīs
sed carpsisse mihī nōn fīdentī decet in spē
crāsque futūrō aliter quam pernoctāsse diū illic,
idque viīs geminīs versīs hodiē iuvat usque.
Mar 3
Mar 3, 2026 at 4:41 AM UTC
CVPISNE ME MANERE PAVLISPER?
Because I can stay as long as you'd like...
TANDEM DIDICI MODERARE ME,
I've finally got control of my psyche.
NVMQVMNE CAESAR HOC MODO SENSIT?
Did Cicero, did Nero, Augustus?
NVM QVIS TAM LONGEQVAM EGO FUIT?
Into their soul, their heart, their ANIMVS?
NIHIL SVM NISI PVER PERDITVS,
Much greater men have walked the Earth than I.
NVM PRIMVS MEI GENERIS SVM? CVR?
I possess this myriad mind, but why?
NM TOTA GENS INFRA ME IACET? CVR?
I am but a boy, left to fight alone
CONTRA MONSTRA QVAE IN NOCTE LATENT,
Monsters spawned from my mind, horrors unknown
AD QVOSLIBET HOMINES, ET MIHI.
I feel most would have given up or died,
SI MENTEM MEAM FRACTAM HABERENT;
But this sorry surrender, I've denied.
MEA VITA SATIS BONA ERAT,
I am **** lucky to be where I am,
HIC LIBER SVM. NEMO SVNT CONTRA ME.
Well, that is, no one but myself, I guess-
ET NON POTEST ESSE PEIOR HOSTIS.
All my life, I've been such a ******* mess,
ADHVC SVM, VERE. NONDVM PERFECTVS,
But despite all this, I can't help but smile.
AVDI! PAVLISPER TANTVM VIVIMUS!
So much to be done, in such a short while...
Jan 9
Jan 9, 2026 at 1:20 AM UTC
And so,
The words
tu et solus
have been carved into my heart,
in reference,
to what I am
promised.
Dec 27, 2025
Dec 27, 2025 at 6:28 AM UTC
ECCE NVNC EXTRAMVNDANI EX SPECVLO IMAGO VIRI
MANANT ARDORE SOLIS IGNEQVE VVLNERIBVS GVTTÆ
QVÆ SVNT COMMIXTVM TONITRV CHALYBS ARGENTO
QVÆ CAVCASI SONO ALTÆ INCIDVNT VINDICTÆ SAXA
VINDEX XYSTO DÆMON ΣΙΔHΡΩI
MYCENARVM PYLIQVE FLAMMAM SPATHA CVSTOS ALO.
Dec 27, 2025
Dec 27, 2025 at 5:57 AM UTC
Domna Nixea.
Albus Silvius et panis caldus
Explo conigita iacio cubilis
Venit Nixea Domnait
micans gemmit pulla est
Puella Abluae,
Ausculua caerulus et orstinus.
Explo ablus oculea
Crystallus Gracilis est forma
Omna adspicio Vultuea
Scandalum basio olim
Domna Nixea
Asperusa Medit
Concripot comatusit
Qualitercunqupo facio
Glacionto mihi.
Alienus invenio terris
Mano assilmos fridus
Mihi Thorax Pondus nunc
Ferrum Haereo Cutis
Duo Gravis Forma
Digi Transfigo Cearulus
Embracio domna corpa
Videa Nunca
Eom *** viri
Eo viaea
Patens Brachiuma
Viris audio apelli
Nunc digis aturnus
Substrictus cludo oculus
Mihi uro cori
Sentio dextra
Ausculea frigis
Algeo meus
Video via
Sol evanuit
Domna Nixea
Dec 16, 2025
Dec 16, 2025 at 2:46 PM UTC
I wanted to look to you like I was dancing
But the bugs on my bark weren't moving enough
I kept reaching skyward and praying for wind
Never comes to a call, does it?
You could trace each fissure on my surface--why don'chya?--
Find stories and runnels for flowing sap
Saw me off at the hip, maybe. See what jokes my rings have to tell
I'm tired of waiting for wind; I want to dance (I think?)
I wanted to look to you like I was thoughtful
So I sliced off a sheet of cyan and I robbed the sky
You called me "thief." _Fuckin' mean_
Always reaching for silver, aren't we?
Try to touch irises, press pupils. I've never been further than now
Stories all end, so I'm told. But this one? Still going
Hacked apart, trying to show you my pieces. Chunks. Rough mince
So I stole again to pay the sky back. _Ex nihilo, nihil fit__
_I can pour from empty, because I'm _magic, baby!_
I wanted to want to see you in Springtime
But we can't scrape Winter off our faces
Sling me a flat stone that I can send spinning
Slapping across the water's surface
Did I hit the opposite bank? You could stitch together separate days
if you only had the sinew and a proper needle
Blown apart by wind and explosive expecting. Chunks. Rough mince
I'm tired of waiting for wind. I'm tired of wanting to dance (I think?)
Not magic--well--not the kind that isn't bone and blood and skin
That's the sort of magic that _doesn't_ exist.
May 8, 2025
May 8, 2025 at 10:26 AM UTC
Epiphanies on Woman as Divine Love Incarnate
by Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine and Hildegardis Bingensis, was a German christian mystic who had visions of the Love of God beginning at age three. She was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath: a poet, writer, songwriter, composer, philosopher and medical writer/practitioner. remains one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany and perhaps the first notable environmentalist as well. She wrote poems and song lyrics in Latin.
These translations are dedicated to the most loving of mothers, my praiseworthy wife Beth.
“Every good mother is the embodiment of Love.”—Michael R. Burch
“Cry out, therefore, and compose!”—Hildegard von Bingen, Scivias, translation by Michael R. Burch
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN TRANSLATIONS
I behold you,
noble, glorious and complete Woman,
locus of innocence and purity,
the Sacred Matrix
in whom God delights.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “Ave, generosa” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
You appeared as a luminous white lily,
as God imagined You eons before Creation,
requiring Creation.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “Ave, generosa” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Now in her
lovingkindness, the deepest tenderness,
abounds for all,
from the Least
to the most Eminent
of those abiding beyond the stars!
—Hildegard von Bingen, “Caritas abundat” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Exquisitely loving All,
she bequeaths the kiss of peace
upon both Pauper and King.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “Caritas abundat” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Fashioned by God’s fingertips,
made in the image of God,
Height of Creation, held
within a womb of mingled blood,—
though heiress to Adam's exiled wanderings,
still the elements rejoiced to behold You,
O praiseworthy Woman,
as the heavens illumed
and thundered with praise at Your birth!
—Hildegard von Bingen, *** processit factura” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
A once-closed portal has been reopened
in the wise Woman
now revealed to us,
for the Flower of Creation
blossoms sun-bright in the dawn.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “Hodie aperuit” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
O blessed child,
the Chosen One,
whom God so inspired.
that in time your sacred womb
produced the manifestations of God,
wafting like the gentlest scents
of frankincense, lavender and rose.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “O beata infantia” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
O glittering starlight,
O most brilliant, exceptional figure
of the royal marriage,
O bright-faceted gem,
arrayed like a Queen
without flaw ...
You have become an angel's consort
and a priestess of sacredness.
Flee the ancient destroyer's dungeon!
Take your rightful place in the palace of the King.
—Hildegard von Bingen, “O choruscans lux stellarum” translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Keywords/Tags: Hildegard von Bingen, English translations, Latin poems, mystic, god, love, woman, womanhood, women, Divine Feminine, mother, son, Mary, Jesus
Feb 10, 2025
Feb 10, 2025 at 8:20 AM UTC
Quis sum ego?
Vir, poeta, amator.
Aut ego iustus amissa sum?
Ego feci nomina illa usque.
Dec 28, 2024
Dec 28, 2024 at 9:14 PM UTC
Quis sum ego?
Vir som.
Ego confido in me,
Est bonum?
Dec 19, 2024
Dec 19, 2024 at 10:15 AM UTC
Aliquid sicut flumen,
Quasi aliquid rosa.
Res potest esse sicut pulchritudo,
Mais tu es belle.
Dec 19, 2024
Dec 19, 2024 at 9:23 AM UTC
Latin is a beautiful language,
But it confuses me.
Ignis significat aquam.
Dec 17, 2024
Dec 17, 2024 at 2:46 PM UTC
These are modern English translations by Michael R. Burch of seven Latin poems written by the ancient Roman female poet Sulpicia, who was apparently still a girl or very young woman when she wrote them.
I. At Last, Love!
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
It's come at last! Love!
The kind of love that, had it remained veiled,
would have shamed me more than baring my naked soul.
I appealed to Aphrodite in my poems
and she delivered my beloved to me,
placed him snugly, securely against my breast!
The Goddess has kept her promises:
now let my joy be told,
so that it cannot be said no woman enjoys her recompense!
I would not want to entrust my testimony
to tablets, even those signed and sealed!
Let no one read my avowals before my love!
Yet indiscretion has its charms,
while it's boring to conform one’s face to one’s reputation.
May I always be deemed worthy lover to a worthy love!
A signatis tabellis was a letter written on wooden tablets and sealed with sealing-wax.
II. Dismal Journeys, Unwanted Arrivals
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
My much-hated birthday's arrived, to be spent mourning
in a wretched countryside, bereft of Cerinthus.
Alas, my lost city! Is it suitable for a girl: that rural villa
by the banks of a frigid river draining the fields of Arretium?
Peace now, Uncle Messalla, my over-zealous chaperone!
Arrivals of relatives aren't always welcome, you know.
Kidnapped, abducted, snatched away from my beloved city,
I’d mope there, prisoner to my mind and emotions,
this hostage coercion prevents from making her own decisions!
Arretium is a town in Tuscany, north of Rome. It was presumably the site of, or close to, Messalla’s villa. Sulpicia uses the term frigidus although the river in question, the Arno, is not notably cold. Thus she may be referring to another kind of lack of warmth! Apparently Sulpicia was living with her overprotective (in her eyes) Uncle Messalla after the death of her father, and was not yet married.
III. The Thankfully Abandoned Journey
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
Did you hear the threat of that wretched trip’s been abandoned?
Now my spirits soar and I can be in Rome for my birthday!
Let’s all celebrate this unexpected good fortune!
IV. Thanks for Everything, and Nothing
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
Thanks for revealing your true colors,
thus keeping me from making further fool of myself!
I do hope you enjoy your wool-basket *****
since any female-filled toga is much dearer to you
than Sulpicia, daughter of Servius!
On the brighter side, my guardians are much happier,
having feared I might foolishly bed a nobody!
Upper-class Roman women did not wear togas, but unfree prostitutes, called meretrices or ancillae, did. Here, Sulpicia is apparently contrasting the vast difference in her station to that of a slave who totes heavy wool baskets when not sexually servicing her masters. Spinning and wool-work were traditional tasks for virtuous Roman women, so there is a marked contrast here. Sulpicia doesn’t mention who is concerned about her, but we can probably intuit Messalla was one of them.
V. Reproach for Indifference
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
Have you no kind thoughts for your girl, Cerinthus,
now that fever wilts my wasting body?
If not, why would I want to conquer this disease,
knowing you no longer desired my existence?
After all, what’s the point of living
when you can ignore my distress with such indifference?
VI. Her Apology for Errant Desire
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
for Carolyn Clark, who put me up to it
Let me admit my errant passion to you, my love,
since in these last few days
I've exceeded all my foolish youth's former follies!
And no folly have I ever regretted more
than leaving you alone last night,
desiring only to disguise my desire for you!
Sulpicia on the First of March
by Sulpicia
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
“One might venture that Sulpicia was not over-modest.” – MRB
Sulpicia's adorned herself for you, O mighty Mars, on your Kalends:
come admire her yourself, if you have the sense to observe!
Venus will forgive your ogling, but you, O my violent one,
beware lest your armaments fall shamefully to the floor!
Cunning Love lights twin torches from her eyes,
with which he’ll soon inflame the gods themselves!
Wherever she goes, whatever she does,
Elegance and Grace follow dutifully in attendance!
If she unleashes her hair, trailing torrents become her train:
if she braids her mane, her braids are to be revered!
If she dons a Tyrian gown, she inflames!
She inflames, if she wears virginal white!
As stylish Vertumnus wears her thousand outfits
on eternal Olympus, even so she models hers gracefully!
She alone among the girls is worthy
of Tyre’s soft wool dipped twice in costly dyes!
May she always possess whatever rich Arabian farmers
reap from their fragrant plains’ perfumed fields,
and whatever flashing gems dark India gathers
from the scarlet shores of distant Dawn’s seas.
Sing the praises of this girl, Muses, on these festive Kalends,
and you, proud Phoebus, strum your tortoiseshell lyre!
She'll carry out these sacred rites for many years to come,
for no girl was ever worthier of your chorus!
Sulpicia is one of the few female poets of ancient Rome whose work survives, and she is arguably the most notable. Other ancient female poets associated with the Roman Empire include Perilla, a Latin lyric poetess whom Ovid deemed second only to Sappho but may have been a scripta puella (a "written girl" and male construct); Aelia Eudocia, a Byzantine empress; Moero, another Byzantine poetess; Claudia Severa, remembered today for two surviving literary letters (and one of those a fragment); Eucheria, who has just one extant poem; Faltonia Betitia Proba, a Latin Roman Christian poet of the late empire who left a Virgilian cento with many lines copied directly from Virgil with "minimal" modification; Julia Balbilla, who has four extant epigrams; and Caecilia Trebulla, who has three. There was also a second Sulpicia, known as Sulpicia II, who lived during the reign of Domitian, for whom only two lines of iambic trimeters survive.
Alas, it seems there was little little effort wasted on preserving the work of female poets in male-dominated Rome!
The original Sulpicia was the author of six short poems (some 40 lines in all) written in Latin during the first century BC. Her poems were published as part of the corpus of Albius Tibullus. Sulpicia's family were well-off Roman citizens with connections to Emperor Augustus, since her uncle Valerius Messalla Corvinus served as a commander for Augustus and was consul in 31 BC.
My translations were suggested by Carolyn Clark, to whom I have dedicated them. Her dissertation "Tibullus Illustrated: Lares, Genius and Sacred Landscapes" includes a discussion of Sulpicia on pages 364-369 and is highly recommended.
Keywords/Tags: Sulpicia, Latin, Latin Poems, English Translations, Rome, Roman, Cerinthus, Albius Tibullus, Uncle Valerius Messalla Corvinus, birthday, villa, Augustus
The Maiden’s Song aka The Bridal Morn
anonymous Medieval lyric
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
The maidens came to my mother’s bower.
I had all I would, that hour.
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.
Now silver is white, red is the gold;
The robes they lay in fold.
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.
Still through the window shines the sun.
How should I love, yet be so young?
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.
I take this to be a naughty, suggestive poem, but one that makes us feel sympathy for a young bride, quite possibly a child bride. Once upon a time there was a custom of people witnessing a marriage's consummation, called a “bedding ceremony,” which in this case might have taken place in the mother's "bower" (bedroom). If the witnesses didn't watch the act, they might have been just outside the door, drinking and telling coarse jokes at the bride’s expense. The "bailey" may be the bailiff, spreading the marriage bans that result in the "bell" (hymen/virginity) being borne away. The bride's attire has changed color from white and gold (both symbols of purity) to silver (not as pure) and red (hymeneal blood). The pure white lily has been replaced by a rose. "The rose I lay" and "they lay in fold" seem like suggestive wordplay to me. I take the sun shining through the window to be the following morning, with the young bride a bit nonplussed about the (probably) arranged and (possibly) premature affair. In any case, it's a fetching and thought-provoking little poem.
Let all those love, who never loved before.
Let those who always loved, love all the more.
—ancient Latin saying, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Oct 16, 2024
Oct 16, 2024 at 9:30 AM UTC
solo quiero sacarlo todo,
para que el agujero ***** sea mas queño.
Aug 17, 2024
Aug 17, 2024 at 8:06 PM UTC
VLTORIS MEA INCIDENS SVVM ÆTERNVM IMAGINE THORAX
DIXIT VNIVERSI MIHI LAPIDE AΠΟΦΘEΓΜΑΤΙ TYRANNVS
DVM SCYTHIÆ SVPER SANGVINE ARDEOR INVICTO
SEXTA RESVLTANS MEA NOCTIS SPECVLO FORMA
CÆDIT SVO PROBVS SIGNATOS FVLMINE POSTES
QVO VASTATIO CHALYBE DICITVR ESSE INDIGNI
VICTRICIS AQVILA TVRMA SACRI CONSONA
PRIMO SIGILLO TEVCRVS NOMINE CRVORIS
VINDEX XYSTO DÆMON IΕΡΩI
MITHRÆO TEGVNT FVLGENTEM TENEBRÆ HOSTES TEMPLVM.
Mar 24, 2024
Mar 24, 2024 at 8:08 AM UTC
ILLE QVI VNICVS DEBELLATOR PROSTRATO REGE VNIVERSI
HARVM IGITVR ENTIVM IGNEA CELEBRANTVR SYMBOLA
VLTIO EXTRAMVNDANI VIRI VENI MIHI ALTA EREBO
DVM BELLI LIBER SCVTO IMPERAVIT IPSE TEMPLVM
MALA FVLMINE INFAMIA PERIT MVNDI VICTA
VINDEX XYSTO DÆMON ΞIΦEI
AVSONIÆ TENENS ROSAM CHALYBE RVBRAM.
Mar 12, 2024
Mar 12, 2024 at 8:48 AM UTC
Sweetheart what makes you
Think that you will be anything
More than doormat
Mar 2, 2024
Mar 2, 2024 at 3:49 PM UTC
When you are looking
For love in the wrong places
You will think of me
Mar 1, 2024
Mar 1, 2024 at 9:08 PM UTC
As the walls close in
The demons inside my head
Steal every breath I take
Feb 29, 2024
Feb 29, 2024 at 2:53 PM UTC
When will I be free
From his grasp and his control
What will it cost me
Feb 19, 2024
Feb 19, 2024 at 10:25 PM UTC
With seven billion
Souls on earth how fortunate
Are we to have met
Feb 18, 2024
Feb 18, 2024 at 10:08 AM UTC
Let us go forward quietly each on his own path,
forever making for the light,
and in the knowledge that we are as others are and that others are as we are
and that it is right to love one another in the best possible way,
believing all things , hoping for all things and enduring all things,
and never failing. And not being too troubled by our weaknesses,
for even he who has none, has one weakness, namely that he has none,
and anyone who believes himself to be consummately wise would do well to be foolish all over again.
Feb 27, 2013
Feb 27, 2013 at 12:37 PM UTC
We kept Whispering Our Desires,
beneath the Sheets of White Satin.
Our Kisses kept pouring
and their Words were in Latin.
Our Feelings, Calmly and Gently,
were moaning in Pleasure.
That's When Our Hands arrived,
at the spot they most Treasured.
With My Lips I went Humming,
around Her precious Spot.
With both Her Hands,
She Worshipped what She Got.
Like an Amorous Knight,
I went riding Her Post.
After Our Sessions ended,
I raised Her, a Champagne Toast.
Sep 13, 2023
Sep 13, 2023 at 7:49 AM UTC