Sirmio, you jewel of all peninsulas <br />and all the islands of the crystal lakes <br />and the great oceans Neptune circles, <br />how delightedly, how gladly, I return, <br />hardly believing myself I’ve safely left <br />Thynia and those Black Sea shores behind. <br /> <br />What is better than to be free from care <br />when the mind throws off its load and, at last, <br />from foreign journeys, we reach our own home, <br />sink back to rest on the one bed we longed for? <br />This is reward enough for all our efforts. <br />You, welcome sight, O lovely Sirmio, be happy, <br />and you too, Lydian Lake Garda’s waters, <br />laugh, with whatever gleaming laughter you have.<br /><br />Gaius Valerius Catullus<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sirmio/
