A simultaneous anagram and approximate translation of one of Edward Fitzgerald's little-known Latin translations of Omar Khayyám.

Tempus est quo Orientis Aura mundus renovatur,
Quo de fonte pluviali dulcis Imber reseratur;
Musi-manus undecumque ramos insuper splendescit;
Jesu-spiritusque salutaris terram pervagatur.

Here is a brief gloss of the keywords:

time               morning heaven world  renew          spring growing sweet shower reveal Moses hand                    bough above   brighten Jesus breath      healthful soil    pervade

Muse in times aquatic, give us our surplus rain,
Clouds dump ample serum, our verdure to sustain;
Moses' quilt appears, ramose-lined, picturesque;
Jesus' quite abundant virtue nurtures farm terrain.

Here is Fitzgerald's own English version of the same quatrain:

Now the New Year reviving old Desires. The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand Of Moses on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

The first two verses of "Away in a Manger", made into anagrams.

These guests in a manger, no crib for a bed;
My little Lord Jesus was laying his head.
Look! stars in the sky, looking down where he lay;
God, may my Lord Jesus, sleep too in the hay.

The cattle are lowing, poor baby's awake,
Ye, swaddled Lord Jesus, Oh no noise ye make.
Thy holy son Jesus sees all from the sky;
Yea, Guard me this night, Lord, 'til morning is nigh.

Part of Thomas Babbington's epic poem Horatius, subjected to two different treatments. This stanza contains one of the most vivid similes in English literature: a bridge leading into Rome is intentionally collapsed to frustrate an invading Tuscan army, and the resultant obstruction of the Tiber is compared to an unsuccessful attempt to tame a wild horse.

But with a crash like thunder fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck lay right athwart the stream:
And, like a horse unbroken, when first he feels the rein,
The furious river struggled hard, and tossed his tawny mane,
And burst the curb, and bounded, rejoicing to be free,
And whirling down, in fierce career, rushed headlong to the sea.

First, a prose paragraph dealing with an episode subsequent to the collapse. It incorporates an unusual constraint: the typical vowel frequencies in English are such that E+U is very similar to A+I+O, and in this example the sums are identical, making it possible to alternate E/U, A/I/O, E/U, A/I/O throughout.

Second, a poetic rendition in a different iambic stanza format (8 lines of alternating rhyme in pentameter, instead of 6 of alternating hexameter and septameter with adjacent rhyme), preserving as many of the original words as possible.

The rare and real hero guarded singlehandedly one Tiber River bridge; after its ruin, when it became a wreck of junk in the grand, surging stream, he is left as the sole brave, badly hurt, scarred, fallen one with dreadful, hideous wounds, and he risks death: he, clothed in metal, runs through water to the city we know by the name "Rome" - Back! then fished in.

Lo, every unhinged board like thunder fell,
And when, like a dam, they crashed there in the stream
The wreck did make the anguished current swell
Behind terrific towers of raining beam.
But like a horse who feels the trainer's lash,
Ah, the raging river struggled to be free,
And burst the curb, and in mad, wanton dash,
Raced down in joyous fury to the sea.

An aubade by Milton. Note that this is not an antigram that tries to turn an aubade into a nocturne, as 'twilight' is defined as 'the light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night'.

Song On May Morning

Now the bright morning Star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The Flowry May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.
Hail bounteous May that dost inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire,
Woods and Groves, are of thy dressing,
Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early Song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

Hymn On A Spring Twilight

Venus, refulgent herald of the Dawn,
Gambols with blossoms, Wintry gloom be gone!
With Marigolds in bloom, Ah Springtime gay,
The Gardens, Heaths, and Meadows richly spray.
Ah, florid world, the man now stimulate;
So hero, teach fair nymph or wench to mate.
O Heaths and Pastures wear thy heather,
See Goldenrods in sunny weather.
To her we do address our lyric Ode:
An end? Oh let thy transiting be slowed.

The most familiar lines from Alexander Pope's Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady.

How lov'd, how honour'd once, avails thee not,
To whom related, or by whom begot;
A heap of dust alone remains of thee;
'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be!

Whether awash in plaudits, pull, and loot,
Or so abhorred that no one gives a hoot;
Lo, ye then have a drab and awful doom;
Oh, hello! Welcome to the restful tomb!

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