Book IX, Epigram 54 (Ker)

If fieldfares were fattened for me on Picenian olives, or Sabine woodland saw my gins stretched out, or a fluttering prey were drawn down by the lengthening reed, and a limed rod held fast the entangled birds, Carus, my kinship would give you the customary offering, and neither brother nor grandsire would come before you. As it is, my fields listen only to useless starlings and the plaint of chaffinches, and are vernal with the shrill sparrow; on that side the ploughman answers the magpie's call; on this, hard by, the ravening kite towers to the lofty stars. So I send you the small tributes of my scanty poultry-yard; if you accept such things, you shall often be my kinsman.