from "Unfaithful Translations"
VII
You ask how many of your worldly kisses
are enough for me, Lesbia, enough and more?
One kiss for every grain of sand swept
down the coast from Seven Apostles,
past Apollo Bay, to Point Danger;
a number glowing like southern skies
in points to star your eyes below midnight,
the dashboard legend of illicit miles:
to find your lips as many times
might quiet Tolhurst's madness:
no barman could squeeze the measure,
no satellite eavesdrop the amount.
Hugh Tolhurst
reprinted with permission from
Filth and Other Poems (Black Pepper 1997)
403 St Georges Road North Fitzroy
Victoria 3068 Australia
soon to be reprinted (January 2001)
in Catullus in English
ed Julia Haig Gaisser
(Harmondsworth UK: Penguin Classics, 2001)
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