Quidquid
“Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.”
(Anything said in Latin sounds profound). ~Anon
If you speak Latin, you’ll sound
smart,
like Einstein, Plato and
Descartes.
But even more, most will not know
what you have said. Just goes to show
that but a few words, known by
heart,
proves you speak Latin. You sound smart!
Thus when you postulate, ‘quidquid,”
just say it once. Then say, ‘ibid.”
Or then say, “Bibo ergo sum,”
Some ‘Python’ fans will know, by
gum,
your toasts to Latin are so smart!
So, “ergo,” now, here’s THE best part…
To “carpe diem” (seize the day)
use Latin. You’ll be “illiant-bray”
and so profound, You’ll stand apart:
if you speak Latin, you’ll sound
smart.
###
Notes: Dang it! My original notes just got wiped out! Gotta start from scratch now. Grrrrrrrr!
Breathe, breathe...
Okay here goes: The form is called Quatern. I know, I know, dear reader...you are mega-surprised because you were expecting another Kyrielle Sonnet, right? Well, to be honest, the Quatern is similar in many ways to the Kyrielle and the Kyrielle Sonnet, which is why it was easy and fun to write. The prompting for writing this form comes from Walt and Marie, those nice folks over at Poetic Bloomings. Every week, they do something called In-Form Poet, which is all about poetic form - and this week, the form was Quaterm.
Now, believe it or not, I didn't originally set out to write a pun[ish] poem about Latin. Instead, my thought was to write something on 'balance' since that was the prompt word over at Theme Thursday. (Yeah, I know today is Friday.) The goal was 'neco duos pennipotenti per unus calx' which basically means (according to a couple of online translators) to kill two birds with one stone. It's not exact, mind you, especially when you translate it back from Latin to English, but whatever.
Anyway, I started searching for humorous 'balance' quotes, which is actually more difficult than one might expect. Most 'balance' quotes have a more inspirational kinda aura about them (as opposed to funny.) But, one hyperlink (and subsequent website of quotes) led to another - and suddenly, there I was. Latin.
So...did I strike any sort of balance with the above poem? Hmmmm. It's a stretch. But if you put Pig-Latin, Monty Python and certain individuals of considerable intellectual weight (among other stuff) on the scales of life, then perhaps I did, on balance, complete the task.
Okay...okay...Gemitu! (That's Latin for *groan!*)
