Singing the Latin Blues
My mind is getting fragile
It's getting too intense
Why did I take a Latin class
Oh, headache, get thee hence !
A first year college textbook
In one term must be done
The first half went so swimmingly
The second, NOT so fun !
I'm forty-frickin'-eight years old
The rules don't stick so well
My memory and morphology
So quickly go to hell !
Subjunctive conjugations
A syntax in the round
O, Sequence of the Tenses
Why must you bring me down !?
I thought I was a clever chap
Creative and alert
But Passive Periphrastic
Really makes me hurt !
O, Absolutely Ablative
My Dative...possess this!
A subject that's Accusative?
You know what you can kiss !
The verbs are coming in too fast
Such compounds they deploy
The wretched grammar nightmares
My peaceful nights destroy.
Post-baccalaureate studies
Have me singing Latin blues
At least it's not Sudoku...
Now there's a bloody snooze.
Still, I try my very best
To learn the noun declensions
So I might read the Romans
And some Middle Age inventions
I'll take vacation-study days
And lock myself inside
I'll sacrifice my social life
Oh...that's already fried!
I'll drill myself ad nauseam
As in the oldene tymes
Even though my paycheck
Won't see the pair o' dimes.
Omnia bona erunt
Metus pessimus meorum superem!
Sapientiam poetarum percipiamque
Studio diligenti, ambulabo cum Minervae!
Do you like my composition,
My simple, heartfelt verse?
I know it is a bit cliché
Few coins are in my purse.
Now it's time to be the Smith
Arouse the Library Troll
Before it all becomes unglued
And I lose control.
It's the eye of the tiger,
The thrill of the fight
I'll struggle with these ancients
Until I get it right!
So that's my proclamation
And minor self-critique
I'm average, but I'm thankful
It's Latin and not Greek!
***
Theo J. van Joolen©2011
***
My Latin stanza:
Everything will be alright
I will conquer my worst fears
And gain the wisdom of the poets
With diligent study, I will walk with Minerva
***
Similar Poem
Almost all of the Poems of Catullus
It's getting too intense
Why did I take a Latin class
Oh, headache, get thee hence !
A first year college textbook
In one term must be done
The first half went so swimmingly
The second, NOT so fun !
I'm forty-frickin'-eight years old
The rules don't stick so well
My memory and morphology
So quickly go to hell !
Subjunctive conjugations
A syntax in the round
O, Sequence of the Tenses
Why must you bring me down !?
I thought I was a clever chap
Creative and alert
But Passive Periphrastic
Really makes me hurt !
O, Absolutely Ablative
My Dative...possess this!
A subject that's Accusative?
You know what you can kiss !
The verbs are coming in too fast
Such compounds they deploy
The wretched grammar nightmares
My peaceful nights destroy.
Post-baccalaureate studies
Have me singing Latin blues
At least it's not Sudoku...
Now there's a bloody snooze.
Still, I try my very best
To learn the noun declensions
So I might read the Romans
And some Middle Age inventions
I'll take vacation-study days
And lock myself inside
I'll sacrifice my social life
Oh...that's already fried!
I'll drill myself ad nauseam
As in the oldene tymes
Even though my paycheck
Won't see the pair o' dimes.
Omnia bona erunt
Metus pessimus meorum superem!
Sapientiam poetarum percipiamque
Studio diligenti, ambulabo cum Minervae!
Do you like my composition,
My simple, heartfelt verse?
I know it is a bit cliché
Few coins are in my purse.
Now it's time to be the Smith
Arouse the Library Troll
Before it all becomes unglued
And I lose control.
It's the eye of the tiger,
The thrill of the fight
I'll struggle with these ancients
Until I get it right!
So that's my proclamation
And minor self-critique
I'm average, but I'm thankful
It's Latin and not Greek!
***
Theo J. van Joolen©2011
***
My Latin stanza:
Everything will be alright
I will conquer my worst fears
And gain the wisdom of the poets
With diligent study, I will walk with Minerva
***
Similar Poem
Almost all of the Poems of Catullus