Priapeia

Priaepia

by divers poets in English verse and prose. Translated by Sir Richard Burton and Leonard C. Smithers

  1. Farewell, Priapus! naught to thee owe I
  2. Farewell, forsaker damn'd of private parts!
  3. Pale with neglect amid the fields shalt he
  4. Where savage bandog shall bepiss thee or
  5. Wild boar shall rub thee with his ribs mud-caked.
  6. Accursèd Penis! Oh, by whom my pains
  7. Shall with sore righteous penalty be paid?
  8. Howe'er thou 'plain, no more shall tender boy
  9. Ope to thy bidding, nor on groaning bed
  10. His mobile buttocks writhe with aiding art:
  11. Nor shall the wanton damsel's legier hand
  12. Stroke thee, or rub on thee her lubric thigh.
  13. A two-fanged mistress, Romulus old remembering,
  14. Awaits thee; middlemost whose sable groin
  15. And hide time-loosened thou with coynte-rime bewrayed
  16. And hung in cobwebs fain shalt block the way.
  17. Such prize is thine who thrice and four times shalt
  18. Engulf thy lecherous head in fosse profound.
  19. Though sick or languid lie thou, still thou must
  20. Rasp her till wretched, wretched thou shalt fill