My translation of Mario dell’Arco’s poem “Epigrams” is up at Asses of Parnassus, the journal for all things epigrammatical. The poem is untitled in dell’Arco’s version, as it is part of a sequence of translations from the Roman poet Martial.

"Epigrams"

Are my epigrams any good? Who
knows? When I asked you, dear friend,
you rummaged through them
page by page, wrinkling up
your nose, shaking your head
‘no’. Now I know: they’re good.

Below is the Romanesco original, and Martial VI, 60 for those with Latin: 

So’ brutti o belli st’epigrammi? Boooh!
Oggi l’ho chiesto a te,
amico svisciolato, e scartabbelli
tra le paggine, e aggricci er naso, e
me fai segno de no.
Ho capito: so’ belli.

(Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos,
meque sinus omnes, me manus omnis habet.
Ecce rubet quidam, pallet, stupet, oscitat, odit.
Hoc uolo: nunc nobis carmina nostra placent.)

Day Lasts Forever: Selected Poems of Mario dell’Arco will be published by World Poetry Books in 2024.