Catullus Chooses

That one is stunning for us all;
I’d like to stand stunned, first, myself
- a witness vouching in that hour
For pallor like that, gait, height, all.

I’ll codify each separate carried
Point about these vital matters,
I’ll reference them properly –

But not for me. There is a difference
That raiments around tenderness,
That renders one languescent staring
Only wearing, one a chain.
When I am standing and she isn’t
Sure I sense justification
Both times; but this first and other
One is not my cause for stunning.

And that’s because she is all salted,
Looks like frost and thaws down drifts,
There is no border and no country
In her state that knows the worn,
Or cannot fight it, or is wan –

I couldn’t witness you then darling
In the stunning gaze parade
For I’ve been stunned and brenned and bonded
To the astral sleeping staid.