Lumina delectant culices, perimuntque petita:
Sic nobis spes est optima causa mali.
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There are only three words in this poem that are not on the DCC list:
culex, culicis - gnat
dēlectō, -āre - delight, charm, please
perimō, -ere, perēmī, peremptum - kill, destroy
causa -ae f.: cause, reason
lūmen luminis n.: light
malus -a -um: bad, evil; male: (adv.) badly
nōs nostrum/nostrī nobis nōs: we
optimus -a -um: best, excellent; adv. optimē
petō petere petīvī petītum: seek, aim at
que (enclitic) - and
sīc: in this manner, thus; sīc . . . ut: in the same way as
spēs speī f.: hope
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
