Infans vidére pótest.

-- Witches' Hat ['68] -- The Incredible String Band --
[lyrics by Robin Williamson]

Re vera, infans eas vidére pótest
in locis silentibus ubi muscus viréscit
conchae contíntinant
ventus frigefácit
annus finem cápit
alia arbor ad aliam susúrrat
et in vento se fléctunt.

Proxima se-mane simia
apud nos véniet.

Oooh, si pileus magae éssem
suo in capite séssus sicut foculus
avolárem et vespertilio fíerem
caelum ésset domus
incédens sicut funambulus
lento gradu pedetemptim
mei digiti nigris cerasis indúti.

La-la-la-la-la, . . .

[Translatio a manu 白狐]

-- NOTES --

"the children have seen them" > infans eas vidére pótest > lit. > "child them see it-can" > "a child can see them"

la semaine > se-[ptem]mane ["seven mornings"] mane is usually in the neutrum > "proximo [sg.] se-mane", "proximis [pl.] se-mane", but in French semaine is a feminine word and indeed it sounds better in the feminine !!

pileus magae = "felt-hat of-sorceress" > pileus magus [noun + adjective] = both sorcerer's and sorceress's hat !!

foculus ["little-hearth"] > paraffin stove > foculus per paraffineum

caelum ésset domus > "sky/heaven would-be-being house/home" > lit. > per caelum vagárer > "across sky/heaven I-would-be-roaming"

mei digiti nigris cerasis indúti > "my fingers with-black cherries put-on [> endowed > indúere - indutus]"

-- The Original --

[Certainly, the children have seen them / in quiet places where the moss grows green / coloured shells jangle together / the wind is cold / the year is old / the trees whisper together / and bent in the wind they lean // Next week a monkey is coming to stay // Oooh, if I was a witches' hat / sitting on her head like a paraffin stove / I'd fly away and be a bat / across the air I would roam / stepping like a tightrope walker / putting one foot after another / wearing black cherries for rings]