AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This poem is a translation of Catullus 101, in which the Roman poet famously mourns his brother, who has died, suddenly, abroad. In mourning my father, who died, suddenly and out of touch with everyone he knew, in 2009, I translated and retranslated Catullus 101 so many times that it finally boiled down to this.

BIO:

Lauren Clark's first collection of poems, MUSIC FOR A WEDDING, was selected by Pulitzer Prize-winner Vijay Seshadri for the 2016 AWP Donald Hall Prize in Poetry. She works as Program & Development Coordinator at Poets House in New York City and collaborates with Etc. Gallery in Chicago.