[Tim McGrath]

"My Wyatt poem is four lines long, though it does rhyme, FWIW. It's about Whoso list to hunt, the 'Anne Boleyn' poem."

Let's see it.

[John Isbell]

I believe I'm allowed to post it here?

Wyatt

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind.
We hunt. The world around the deer is hushed.
Can she be caught in toils? Can she be flushed?
Can she be coursed and hobbled and made blind?

Cheers,
John
 

[Tim McGrath]

Nice, John, very nice. At first I wished it had been longer, but then I reconsidered. As an homage to Wyatt, it is exactly the right length. I now yield the floor to the Catullans.

[John Isbell]

Thank you, Tim!

Cheers,
John

[Allen Tice]

Couple of trivialities. There was a Roman senatorial family that went by the name of Catalus, and a contemporaneous equestrian merchant family (eventually very wealthy) that used the name Catullus. Our poet belonged to group two.

I have complete older sibling who in his balmier moments sometimes has claimed descent from the goddess Venus, as did Julius Caesar when he had had way too much Gaul. I never felt the need to do that, since the evidence was very much absent. I suppose his braggadocio about Venus aces Anne Boleyn, and it did annoy my parents. Enough already on the subject; my ancient amoeba was named Cadwallader, which later became the name of the king of Gwynedd (633-682). Let's Move On.

[Tim McGrath]

How's your Gaelic, Allen? In the 16th Century, a certain Miler McGrath (Maolmhuire Mag Raith) was a Catholic priest and bishop who later became an Anglican and was appointed Archbishop of Cashel in Tipperary (Thiobraid Árann), now a ruined fortress and cathedral, which inspired Yeats to write one of his greatest poems, "The Double Vision of Michael Robartes." I have no known connection, either by clan or by county, with this Miler McGrath, but some things are inherently interesting and may be worth mentioning, with or without your permission.

[John Isbell]

Ar an gculaith.

I’ve been plowing through Irish on Duolingo. ��

Cheers,
John

Update: Mathair mhath. Also Scots Gaelic.

[Allen Tice]

Tim, that’s fine. It’s not my thread. I was only going on about known ancestors because I also have at least two and a half trunks full (marriage and plenteous church records and huge family trees developed by my mother), and lots of people don’t know the names or places of their own amazing forbears. Not their fault !!! It’s fine for those who do to make a poem and publish it about interesting people from long ago and what they did. But on an Eratosphere thread I agree with Michael. I was born in Washington, D.C., with dialect-speaking cousins lurking here and everywhere. And there are nieces and nephews probably connected to an eighteenth century Greek author published in Venice. That’s more than anyone needs to know here.

I enjoyed reading your post. Really. Thank you for posting it. It was interesting.

PS. Ralph, I didn't mean overlook you. Agrigento has great cuisine, and great colossi in search of a photographer.

[Tim McGrath]

John, mora duit

Allen, χαιρετιστήριος

[John Isbell]

Maidin mhaith, Tim!

Cheers,
John