The Motor Bus

What is this that roareth thus?
Can it be a Motor Bus?
Yes, the smell and hideous hum
Indicat Motorem Bum...
How shall wretches live like us
Cincti Bis Motoribus?
Domine, defende nos
Contra hos Motores Bos!

--A.D. Godley (1856-1925)
from a letter to C.R.L.F., 10 Jan. 1914

(I happened upon it in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations)

Ha! that's awesome, I'll have to show that to my Latin classes!

Chris

Be sure to include the date! http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by Julie Stoner (edited October 25, 2005).]

The Tex-Mex Night Before Christmas
Jim and Nita Lee (Dec. 1972)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through la casa
Not a creature was stirring. ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?
Los niños were all tucked away in their camas,
Some in vestidos and some in pijamas.
While Mamá worked late in her little cocina,
El viejo was down at the corner cantina.
The stockings were hanging con mucho cuidado,
In hopes that St. Nico would feel obligado
To bring all the children, both buenos y malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose such a grito,
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I went to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world, do you think que era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero!
And pulling his sleigh, instead of venados,
Were eight little burros approaching, volados.
I watched as they came, and this little hombre
was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre.
Ay, Pancho! Ay, Pepe! Ay, Cuca! Ay, Beto!
Ay, Chato! Ay, Chopo! Maruca and Nieto!
Then standing erect with his hand on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.
Then huffing and puffing, at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled the stockings with lovely regalos,
For none of the children had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud and seeming contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim and this is VERDAD,
Merry Christmas to all, ¡y Felíz Navidad!



[This message has been edited by Julie Stoner (edited October 25, 2005).]

Oops.

[This message has been edited by Julie Stoner (edited October 25, 2005).]

I think the proper term for this kind of verse is macaronic.

I've used the Motor Bus poem in Latin class and the kids loved it. It's nice to come across it again.

Well, the "Tex-Mex Night Before Christmas" is the nicest piece of macaroni I've come across en un mes de domingos. Thanks Julie, and Alicia.

Julie -

I've been sharing the Tex-Mex Night Before Christmas with my students for a long time, and they absolutely LOVE it!

I'm sure others will adopt it as well.

Chaucito,
Catalina

Carol Taylor has an excellent macaronic she might be persuaded to post here. And Rhina has a serious one, called, I believe, "Bilingual," that many might recall. Personally, I'm still trying to figure out how to write in one language, and I'm making very slow progress.

A Charm Against Indigestion


Absit ventus circum cor,
Likewise epigastric sore;
Absit dolor in jejuno,
Which, post prandium, not a few know;
Absit atrox vomitus
With its horrid sonitus;
Absit tum insomnia;
Bismuth vincit omnia.

- H.A.C. Evans