I haven't done any translation for fun lately (what? I can translate for fun), and while researching some stuff to inflict on my students ended up finding some very lovely poetry from two authors, Petronius Arbiter (classical?) and Ausonius (early medieval). The three poems are short, but very lovely, and I thought I'd try my hand at some loose, more-poetic translations.
Qualis nox fuit illa, di deaeque,
quam mollis torus. haesimus calentes
et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
errantes animas. valete, curae
mortales
Gods, goddesses:
the night was a soft bed
and we two, twined together,
alight, with hungering lips
breathed our wandering spirits
back and forth.
Mortality, farewell.
( pendant, ripening grapes, the elm,/branches dropping cherries, blush-apple orchards, )
Qualis nox fuit illa, di deaeque,
quam mollis torus. haesimus calentes
et transfudimus hinc et hinc labellis
errantes animas. valete, curae
mortales
Gods, goddesses:
the night was a soft bed
and we two, twined together,
alight, with hungering lips
breathed our wandering spirits
back and forth.
Mortality, farewell.
( pendant, ripening grapes, the elm,/branches dropping cherries, blush-apple orchards, )