Love
XXV: Smooth Thallus, inly softer you than any furry rabbit
Translated by Robinson Ellis (1871) · From The Poems and Fragments of Catullus (1871)
Smooth Thallus, inly softer you than any furry rabbit,
Or glossy goose's oily plumes, or velvet earlap yielding,
Or feeble age's heavy thighs, or flimsy filthy cobweb;
And Thallus, hungry rascal you, as hurricane rapacious,
When winks occasion on the stroke, the gulls agape declaring:
Return the mantle home to me, you watch'd your hour to pilfer,
The fleecy napkin and the rings from Thynia quaintly graven,
Whatever you parade as yours, vain fool, a sham reversion:
Unglue the nails adroit to steal, unclench the spoil, deliver,
Lest yet that haunch voluptuous, those tender hands caressant,
Should take an ugly print severe, the scourge's heavy branding;
And strange to bruises you should heave, as heaves in open Ocean,
Some little hoy surprised adrift, when wails the windy water.
Cite this poem
MLA
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “XXV: Smooth Thallus, inly softer you than any furry rabbit.” Translated by Robinson Ellis. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/22/.
Chicago
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “XXV: Smooth Thallus, inly softer you than any furry rabbit.” Translated by Robinson Ellis. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/22/.
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