To me that man seems like a god in heaven (51)
To me that man seems like a god in heaven, seems—may I say it?—greater than all gods are, who sits by you & without interruption watches you, listens to your light laughter, which casts such confusion onto my senses, Lesbia, that when I gaze at you merely, all of my well-chosen words are forgotten as my tongue thickens & a subtle fire runs through my body while my ears deafened by their own ringing & at once my eyes are covered in darkness! Leisure, Catullus. More than just a nuisance, leisure: you riot, overmuch enthusing. Fabulous cities & their sometime kings have died of such leisure.
From The Poems of Catullus, translated by Charles Martin and published by Johns Hopkins University Press. © 1989 by Charles Martin. Used with permission. All rights reserved.