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Peter Jeffrey: ‘In the Piazza della Signoria’ and ‘Latin Lover’

Peter Jeffrey

Apr 30 2020

1 mins

In the Piazza della Signoria

Salutations Benvenuto,
Never mind your braggadocio,
It took your cranky genius
To come up with Il Perseo.
Two tons of godlike arrogance
Italian sprezzatura:
Apollo of the Renaissance,
Bellissima figura.

Peter Jeffrey

Latin Lover

I used to know some Latin once, but that was long ago,
To Lalage sweetly smiling I recited amabo.
Ut and the subjunctive simply nothing to me then,
Absolutely ablatives flowed glibly from my pen.
Arma virumque cano is now as far as I can get
With Virgil, and Horatius Flaccus
I couldn’t translate for a bet;
But I’ve bought a Latin Grammar on the worldwide internet,
And in time I could become an ocker Latin Lover yet.

Peter Jeffrey

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