Amo, Amas

AMO, amas,

I love a lass

As a cedar tall and slender!

Sweet cowslips' grace

Is her Nominative Case,

And she's of the Feminine Gender.

Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!

   Harum, scarum Divo!

Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,

   Hic hac, horum Genetivo!

Can I decline

A Nymph divine?

Her voice as a flute is dulcis!

Her oculi bright!

Her manus white!

And soft, when I tacto, her pulse is!

Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!

   Harum scarum Divo!

Tag rag , merry derry, periwig and hatband,

   Hic hac, horum Genetivo!

O, how bella

Is my Puella!

I'll kiss sæculorum!

If I've luck, Sir!

She's my Uxor!

O, dies benedictorum!

Rorum, corum, sunt Divorum!

   Harum scarum Divo!

Tag rag, merry derry, periwig and hatband,

   Hic, hac, horum Genetivo!

John O'Keefe

Index to poems in the collection by John O'Keefe