Poem of the Week - Hamish Whyte

Published on 26/09/2008 19:48

Hamish Whyte's pithy translations of Martial can be found alongside others in Take Five 07 (Shoestring Press, £8.95). Here, they warn us to stay away from doctors, for the benefit of our health. Hamish will read and talk about his work at 4pm today as part of the Scottish Poetry Library's free artists' books and small publishers fair.

MARTIAL'S DOCTORS (for Maxwell Thornton)

V.9

I was feeling poorly: you

made a prompt house call,

Symmachus, but trailed

a posse of students with you.

A hundred hands, chilled

in the north wind, tangoed over

me: if I didn't have a fever,

Symmachus, now I do.

VI.53

Andragoras was at the baths with us.

He was cheerful at dinner.

And yet he was found dead in the morning.

You want to know the cause

of his sudden decease, Faustinus?

He dreamt of that quack Hermocrates.

You can borrow Take Five 07 from the Scottish Poetry Library, which also lends by post. Tel: [phone], e-mail [e-mail] or visit www.spl.org.uk