Integer Vitae

Integer Vitae

1
                                        Did you then say

circumscribed betrayal; did you say, the years,

the years alone have done this, circumambient,

did you so propose?

2

                                        The years will not

answer for what they have done, that much

is certain. There is no shaking them, we

might have foreseen this

3

                                        but refused.

No, refusal's too much said for such freedom.

What fails here is fail-safe, our modus

conjured by slide-rule.

4

                                        Ha! We can choose,

vivify what we catch from others' voices.

Thence to imperatives if you stall in

any manner of theme.

5

                                        Non-concurrent

the freedom and constraint outside of this

transient lock that is itself both

end and motive.

6

                                        Juggling music

for piccolo and snare-drum, for any other

ad hoc hocketing of joy, always provided

there remains silence.  

Geoffrey Hill. A Treatise of Civil Power. Yale University Press (2007).


Integer vitae scelerisque purus
non eget Mauris jaculis neque arcu
nec venenatis gravida sagittis,
  Fusce, pharetra,

sive per Syrtis iter aestuosa
sive facturus per inhospitalem
Caucasum vel quae loca fabulosus
  lambit Hydaspes.

Namque me silva lupus in Sabina,
dum meam canto Lalagem et ultra
terminum curis vagor expeditis,
  fugit inermem,

quale portentum neque militaris
Daunias latis alit aesculetis
nec Jubae tellus generat, leonum
  arida nutrix.

Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis
arbor aestiva recreatur aura,
quod latus mundi nebulae malusque
  Juppiter urget;

pone sub curru nimium propinqui
solis in terra domibus negata:
dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,
  dulce loquentem.

Horácio. I.22. Tradução minha aqui no blog.