Plus quan se atque suos amavit omnes,
nunc...
- Catullus

You were my playmate by the sea.
We swam together.
Your girl's body had no breasts.

We found prawns among the rocks;
We liked to feel the sun and to do nothing;
In the evening we played games with the others.

It made me glad to be by you.

Sometimes I kissed you,
And you were always glad to kiss me;
But I was afraid - I was only fourteen.

And I had quite forgotten you,
You and your name.

To-day I pass through the streets.
She who touches my arms and talks with me
Is - who knows? - Helen of Sparta,
Dryope, Laodamia ...

And there are you
A whore in Oxford Street.