Joyous Winter Solstice

The ever-inspiring fifth poem of Catullus fits the day:

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.


huc advenit sol,
Peregrinus

EDIT: whoops, I probably should included a translation. Here's my own, that augments the text a bit to update the idioms.

Catullus 5

Let us live, my Lesbia, and love, and value
all the rumors of bitter old men as small change.
Suns may set, may rise, but as for us, when the
brief light of life is extinguished, we shall
drift into the sleep of an endless night.
Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,
then another thousand, then a second hundred,
then yet another thousand, then another hundred.
Then, when we have collected many thousands,
we will slash up the ledger so the number becomes
unknown to both us and any villainous person
seeking to craft an evil eye, his spell resting
on the calculations of our many kisses.