Daily Poem: Drat My Hateful Birthday ~ Sulpicia
Drat My Hateful Birthday
~ Sulpicia
Translated from Latin by John Dillon
Drat my hateful birthday
to be spent in the boring old country.
It’s going to be a day of mourning
without Cerinthus to hug.
Oh the joys of city life!
Is a musty old country house
Any fit place for a girl?
And that freezing river at Arezzo!
Please, sweet Messalla, relax,
too anxious, as ever, for my comfort!
Banish this grim expedition
totally out of your mind.
If I’m to be snatched away
I’ll leave heart and soul behind here,
Since I’m not to be granted
licence to run my life.
