Him rival to the gods I place,
Him loftier yet, if loftier be,
Who, Lesbia, sits before thy face,
Who listens and who looks on thee;
Thee smiling soft. Yet this delight
Doth all my sense consign to death;
For when thou dawnest on my sight,
Ah, wretched! flits my labouring breath.
My tongue is palsied. Subtly hid
Fire creeps me through from limb to limb:
My loud ears tingle all unbid:
Twin clouds of night mine eyes bedim.
Ease is my plague: ease makes thee void,
Catullus, with these vacant hours,
And wanton: ease that hath destroyed
Great kings, and states with all their powers.
(Gaius Valerius Catullus)
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Based on Topics: God Poems, Night Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Faces Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Place Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Twins PoemsBased on Keywords: lesbia, bedim, unbid, dawnest