Priapeia

Priaepia

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

  1. I am not hewèd of the fragile elm
  2. Nor is this post supine with rigid vein
  3. Carved out of any wood thou please to take;
  4. But 'tis engendered by live cypress-tree
  5. Which fears nor hundred ages fully told
  6. Nor the decaying of long, drawn-out eld.
  7. Dread this (O evil one!) whoe'er thou be!
  8. For an thou injure with thy greedy hand
  9. The least of bunches by this vine-stock borne
  10. Shall spring (howe'er thou may oppose) for thee
  11. A fig-tree grafted from this cypress-stem.