This is a translation for
Estuans interius, a medieval text that's a part of the
Carmina Burana. It is worth noting for three things:
- The use of rhyme in a latin text, that's rather uncommon as "original" latin poetry is usually based only on metric (this is typical of post-latin material anyway)
- The "easy" construction of the phrase, whith short periods and almost no subordinate periods, that's rather different from Cicero or classical latin poetry
- It is an example of pop culture that probably predates pop culture by ten centuries or so: that's what the grand-grand-grandpa of the average heavy metal kid with a Slayer t-shirt sang when in a tavern (well, not exactly, but you get the idea...)
Estuans interius
ira vehementi
in amaritudine
loquor meae menti:
While I'm sick
with a strong anger
in sadness
I speak to my mind
factus de materia
levis elementi
folio sum similis
de quo ludunt venti.
I'm made of matter
that easily changes
I'm like a leaf
That winds play with
Cum sit enim proprium
viro sapienti
supra petram ponere
sedem fundamenti,
As it is appropriate
for a wise man
to put foundations
over steady rock
stultus ego comparor
fluvio labenti
sub eodem tramite
nunquam permanenti.
I am like a fool:
I flow like a river
I never take the same course
I always change
Feror ego veluti
sine nauta navis,
ut per vias aeris
vaga fertur avis.
I'm drifting like a boat
Without its captain
like a free bird
goes in the roads of the sky
Non me tenent vincula,
non me tenet clavis,
quero mei similes
et adjungor pravis.
Chains don't hold me
Keys don't hold me
I look for my kins
and I join the evil.
Mihi cordis gravitas
res videtur gravis,
iocus est amabilis
dulciorque favis.
The seriousness of my heart
sees an important thing,
to play is lovely
and sweeter than honey
Quidquid Venus imperat,
labor est suavis,
que nunquam in cordibus
habitat ignavis.
Whatever Love commands
is a sweet toil
the kind that's never present
in the heart of the weak
Via lata gradior
more iuventutis,
immersus in vitiis,
immemor virtutis,
Along a large pathway
the way the young do
indulging in vices
forgetting virtues
voluptatis avidus
magis quam salutis,
mortuus in anima,
curam gero cutis.
looking for pleasure
more than salvation
dead in the soul
I care for the surface.
I did the translation myself; it's not meant to be poetic but to keep the same language and wording of the medieval latin original.
There is a number of other translations on the net - see http://www.davidparlett.co.uk/cburana/cb4estu.html for an English one and http://members.tripod.com/~IlianaR/dos/tra-2-1.htm for a very nice Spanish one.
spiregrain makes me notice there is another translation of the same verses in the In taberna node.