In Other Words/Catullus to His Knockers
Catullus to His Knockers
AD AURELIUM ET FURIUM
Ode 16.
Ode 16.
If now and then I spill a pome That seems too peppery for a paperSubscribers take into The Home— Too filled with chili sauce and caper—Because I’m fresh and will not shut upYou think that I’m an awful cut-up.
A poet in the major league Must lead a life above suspicion,Though he may write of love, intrigue, Society and prohibition.His stuff has got to be so snappyThat it will make all ages happy.
Cease, lowlifes, then, to lamp my line; Your knocking never shall upset me.I lyricize of love and wine, And those who care for such will get me.And you who don’t—oh, yes, I mean you,Aurelius, Furius—I’ll bean you!