Friends told me

To live in wisdom

Or else a mere waste of body and soul remains 

But how to follow my darlings’ advice

When your body is flawless

And eyes turned round, as by the sun, to look at it 

On the strong shoulders there sit two birds

Wide-winged

Descending from attending lineage of great ships

Prophesying like an oracle that you are foreordained 

When through the shirt’s disclosure I see the manly chest

Growing willowy from the harmonious waist

Nostrils start thrilling

Sheltering the scent of beauty 

And what wonder can be greater

But the haughty motion

Of hips and legs

Sun-burnt, wind-blown

Which I see as two mountains in the mid of lowland 

Knee and joint in motion I behold

As the moon within waves slowly touched by the wind 

Looking at your sacred shadow

Happily I chant each part of the triumphant body and mere soul

And the radiant desire

Seized within the young, the healthy laughter

Unveiling your teeth – bits of light

Like the great unction’