A Version of Anacreon 395

Grey at the temples, already,

That’s how Earth looks to me.

Garden of Eden? Hardly.

The icebergs are cracking.

Hard to imagine that much time

Remains for the rainforests.

Dealing with these droughts, who wouldn’t

Be terrified of Hell?

Tiny, remote nooks of Earth

Flood. To say ‘troublesome’

Is understatement. And once

The shores go under,

They don’t bob back up.

Graece

πολιοὶ μὲν ἡμὶν ἤδη

κρόταφοι κάρη τε λευκόν,

χαρίεσσα δ᾿ οὐκέτ᾿ ἥβη

πάρα, γηραλέοι δ᾿ ὀδόντες

γλυκεροῦ δ᾿ οὐκέτι πολλὸς

βιότου χρόνος λέλειπται.

Διὰ ταῦτ᾿ ἀνασταλύζω

θαμὰ Τάρταρον δεδοικώς·

Ἀίδεω γάρ ἐστι δεινὸς

μυχός, ἀργαλέη δ᾿ ἐς αὐτὸν

κάτοδος· καὶ γὰρ ἑτοῖμον

καταβάντι μὴ ἀναβῆναι.