Persi Prologus

Margaret Graver
Brown University

Nec fonte labra prolui caballino
nec in bicipiti somniasse Parnaso
memini, ut reprente sic poeta prodirem.
eliconidasque pallidamque Pirenen
illis remitto quorum imagines lambunt
hederae sequaces; ipse semipaganus
ad sacra vatum carmen adfero nostrum.

Uis expedivit psittaco suum 'chaere'
picamque docuit nostra verba conari?
magister artis ingenique largitor
veneter, negatas artifex sequi voces.
quod si dolosi spes refulserit nummi,
corvos poetas et oetridas picas
cantare credas Pegaseium nectar.

 

The fountain of-you know, the flying nag
I never tasted, nor do I recall
dozing at any point upon the crag
of Mt. Parnassus, two heads and all,
to make me overnight a poet. You
with the library busts and clinging crowns of ivy,
you keep your Heliconian maids; I'll do
without your studied pallor of Pirene:
when I present the holy bard-religion
with this my song, I come as half a heathen.

Who trained the parakeet to say hello?
Who taught the pie to prattle like a person?
His belly, master of arts, who can bestow
genius where nature had denied it, artisan
of imitative speech (the bird is hungry).
but if the bait held out is glittering money,
then Poet Crow and Poetess Pie will sing
songs you would swear had poured from Pegasus' spring.

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