Love
Carmen VII (Burton)
Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton (1894) · From The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus (1894)
Thou ask'st How many kissing bouts I bore
From thee (my Lesbia!) or be enough or more?
I say what mighty sum of Lybian-sands
Confine Cyrene's Laserpitium-lands
'Twixt Oracle of Jove the Swelterer
And olden Battus' holy Sepulchre,
Or stars innumerate through night-stillness ken
The stolen Love-delights of mortal men,
For that to kiss thee with unending kisses
For mad Catullus enough and more be this,
Kisses nor curious wight shall count their tale,
Nor to bewitch us evil tongue avail.
Cite this poem
MLA
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “Carmen VII (Burton).” Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/227/.
Chicago
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. “Carmen VII (Burton).” Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/catullus/227/.
Read this poem with the Codex →