Gaius Valerius Catullus Love Poetry          

    Latin Poet                 

I hate and I love. Perhaps you ask why I do this?
I do not know, but I feel that it happens and I am tortured
                                                               - Catullus 85

IN LATIN:  Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requires?
Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
Written by Catullus
Translated from the Latin by Michael G. Donkin

Sparrow, o, Lesbia’s sweet bird whom she keeps near to stroke
at her bosom, to whom with delight she offers a restless finger,
prodding for bites, tiny wounds, if ever my fiery lady needs some
distraction from passion’s sweet pain… o! that I could play with you myself
little sparrow, you would free my thoughts from despair.

Lesbia, come, let us live and love, and be
deaf to the vile jabber of the ugly old fools,
the sun may come up each day but when our
star is out…our night, it shall last forever and
give me a thousand kisses and a hundred more
a thousand more again, and another hundred,
another thousand, and again a hundred more,
as we kiss these passionate thousands let
us lose track; in our oblivion, we will avoid
the watchful eyes of stupid, evil peasants
hungry to figure out
how many kisses we have kissed.

Catullus / The Complete Poems


IN LATIN: 
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
rumoresque senum severiorum
omnes unius aestimemus assis!
Soles occidere et redire possunt:
nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
dein mille altera, dein secunda centum,
deinde usque altera mille, deinde centum.
Dein, cum milia multa fecerimus,
conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus,
aut ne quis malus invidere possit,
cum tantum sciat esse basiorum.

Catullus / The Complete Poems
variation on translation
Let us live, my Lesbia, and let us love,
Let us value all the rumors of the rather strict old men
with that of an ass!
The suns are able to fall and rise:
when once the brief light falls
one endless night must be slept by us.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
then another thousand, then a second hundred,
and then another thousand, then a hundred.
Then, when we will have made many thousands,
we will stir them up, so we will not know,
or anyone bad is able to cast an evil eye
when he knows how many kisses there are.
  -Catullus 5

“We should live, my Lesbia, and love
And value all the talk of stricter
Old men at a single penny.
Suns can set and rise again;
For us, once our brief light has set,
There's one unending night for sleeping.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
Then another thousand, then a second hundred,
Then still another thousand, then a hundred;
Then, when we've made many thousands,
We'll muddle them so as not to know
Or lest some villain overlook us
Knowing the total of our kisses.

(Translated by Guy Lee)
75
Lesbia, I am mad: my brain is entirely warped
by this project of adoring and having you
and now it flies into fits of hatred at the mere thought of your
doing well, and at the same time it can’t help but seek what
is unimaginable– your affection. This it will go on
hunting for, even if it means my total and utter annihilation.
“Godlike the man who
sits at her side, who
watches and catches
that laughter
which (softly) tears me
to tatters: nothing is
left of me, each time
I see her...”
― Catullus
“Better a sparrow, living or dead, than no birdsong at all.”
― Catullus
“Nothing is left of me
Each time I see her”
             ― Catullus
“Let us live and love, nor give a damn what sour old men say.
The sun that sets may rise again, but when our light has sunk into the earth it is gone forever.”
― Catullus


Translation matters:
Here's the latin and various translations based on that same latin
for one fabulous Catullus love poem.

This site does not work from original source material. 
This site counts on real scholars working from the original source material.
I hate and I love
Why, you may ask?
I do not know.
But, it happens.
And I burn.

  The Borgias
  (Tears of Blood)
  Season 3 - Episode 8
“Odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?  nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.”

   “I hate and I love
   Why do I, you ask ?
   I don't know, but it's happening
   and it hurts”
“Odi et amo; quare fortasse requiris, nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.

 I hate and I love, you ask why I do this, I do not know, but I feel and I am tormented)”
― Catullus, The Complete Poems

“I hate and love. And why, perhaps you’ll ask.
I don’t know: but I feel, and I’m tormented.”
“I hate and I love. And if you ask me how, I do not know: I only feel it, and I am torn in two.”
“I hate & love. And if you should ask how I do both,
I couldn't say; but I feel it , and it shivers me.”
Catullus, whose full name was Gaius Valerius Catullus, was born sometime around 84 BC to a leading equestrian family in Verona and, according to Saint Jerome, died around 54 BC in Rome.  Little is known of his brief life as there is no ancient biography to consult. About 116 of his poems survive to help endorse his reputation as the finest lyric poet of his generation, one whose expressions of love and hatred (odi et amo) continue to  influence poets today.

In 25 of his poems he speaks of his love for a woman he calls Lesbia. Her identity is uncertain. She was probably Clodia Metelli, the sexually rapacious wife of a celebrated bore, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, a Roman consul, and the sister of the notorious Publius Clodius Pulcher, a politician and gangster not averse to using intimidation and violence like a Latin Godfather. Ten years older than the poet, she had many lovers among whom Catullus was merely one. Despite her infidelities, the ardent poet could not walk away. His poems veer from devotion and celebration, including a famous tribute and lament for Lesbia’s pet sparrow, to bitter and insulting poems on her infidelities. One of the most celebrated and probably the most translated of his poems (85: Odi et amo) expresses, in two taut lines, the range of his emotions.