not sword nor fire nor futurity

[the_grynne]

questions from orange_crushed:

Comments

[kenorland]

I really liked this, especially #1 and #3. There are very few natural highs better than traveling to a new place, I think. And I just think #3 would be cool, ethnocentricity notwithstanding. ;)

What is the title from?

[the_grynne]

I adapted it from one of the last lines in Ovid's Metamorphoses:

My work is finished now: no wrath of Jove
nor sword nor fire nor futurity
is capable of laying waste to it.
Let that day come then, when it wishes to,
which has only my body in its power,
and put an end to my uncertain years;
no matter, for in spirit I will be
borne up to soar beyond the distant stars,
immortal in the name I leave behind;
wherever Roman governance extends
over the subject nations of the world,
my words will be upon the people's lips,
and if there is truth in poets' prophesies,
then in my fame forever I will live.

[kenorland]

OMG, that's gorgeous. I've never had occasion to read Ovid before. Whose translation is that?

[the_grynne]

Charles Martin's. Very gorgeous translation.

[rez_lo]

I think your flower would have a scent. Something green and complex.

[the_grynne]

Considering my Chinese name, maybe it will be a bookish-smelling flower. :D