Mourn, O you Loves and Cupids
and such of you as love beauty:
my girls sparrow is dead,
sparrow, the girls delight,
whom she loved more than her eyes.
For he was sweet as honey, and knew her
as well as the girl her own mother,
he never moved from her lap,
but, hopping about here and there,
chirped to his mistress alone.
Now he goes down the shadowy road
from which they say no one returns.
Now let evil be yours, evil shadows of Orcus,
that devour everything of beauty:
youve stolen lovely sparrow from me.
O evil deed! O poor little sparrow!
Now, by your efforts, my girls eyes
are swollen and red with weeping.
The Death Of Lesbias Sparrow
written byGaius Valerius Catullus
© Gaius Valerius Catullus