Read "A Lesson in Latin" by Lewis Carroll online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
/ Our Latin books, in motley row, / Invite us to our task -- / Gay Horace, stately Cicero: / Yet there's one verb, when once we know, / No higher skill we ask: / This ranks all other lore above -- / We've learned "_Amare_' means '_to love_'!"
/ So, hour by hour, from flower to flower, / We sip the sweets of Life: / Till, all too soon, the clouds arise, / And flaming cheeks and flashing eyes / Proclaim the dawn of strife: / With half a smile and half a sigh, / "_Amare! Bitter One! _" we cry.
/ Last night we owned, with looks forlorn, / "Too well the scholar knows / There is no rose without a thorn" -- / But peace is made! We sing, this morn, / "No thorn without a rose! " / Our Latin lesson is complete: / We've learned that Love is Bitter-Sweet!