Dum librata suis haeret radicibus ilex
The Uprooted Oak
The poet reflects on the loss of his mother as a sudden uprooting that leaves him vulnerable to the storms of life.
As an oak tree, balanced and rooted, stands firm and refuses to yield to the south winds, but once the cruel axe cuts it down, it is carried off wherever the master chooses—so I, too, am called an uprooted tree; yet, grafted into my beloved Mother, I surpass the cedars in strength. Now I lie exposed to fate, without my mother, tossed by storms, unstable, and more restless than the sea.
Clinging to the Rock
The poet describes his desperate attempt to hold onto his mother's memory, framing his grief as a long and wandering journey.
You are my root, my firmest rock, Mother; like a polypus, I cling to the stone with my claws. It isn't just the sisters who have cut the thread for you; I, too, feel torn apart by your death. And so, wandering everywhere, I am rightly called another Ulysses, and this death of yours shall be my Iliad.
Read the original Latin
Dum librata suis haeret radicibus ilex Nescia Vulturnis cedere firma manet; Post ubi crudelem sentit divisa securem, Quo placet oblato, mortua fertur, hero: Arbor et ipse inversa vocor: dumque insitus almae Assideo Matri, robore vinco cedros. Nunc sorti pateo, expositus sine matre procellis, Lubricus, et superans mobilitate salum. Tu radix, tu petra mihi firmissima, Mater, Ceu polypus, chelis saxa prehendo tenax: Non tibi nunc soli filum abrupere sorores Dissutus videor funere et ipse tuo. Unde vagans passim recte vocer alter Ulysses, Alteraque haec tua mors, Ilias esto mihi.
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