I first came across the text I selected for this work, as an anonimous Latin quote at the beginning of a novel. At the time, it impressed me so much that I jotted it down in one of my notebooks. I forgot the novel but remembered the quote. 

Intrigued by it, I decided to find its author, and the work it had come from. As I typed the first words of the poem in my search engine, it appeared: Catullus 5. The author, Gaius Valerius Catullus, a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote poetry about personal life rather than classical heroes. 

Catullus 5 is a passionate ode and one of the most famous poems by Catullus. 

Sung in Latin

Excerpt of a love poem by latin poet Catullus (ca. 84–54 BC)

Soles occidere et redire possunt;
nobis, cum semel occidit brevis lux,
nox est perpetua una dormienda.
Da mi basia mille.

English translation:

Suns are able to set and return;
once the brief light sets,
we must sleep one perpetual night.
Give me one thousand kisses.