Here is another distich by John Owen, with an English translation by Thomas Harvey, 1.101:
Mors
Mors quid sit, rogitas? Si scirem, mortuus essem;
Ad me, cum fuero mortuus, ergo veni.
OF DEATH
You ask what’s Death? till dead I not know Vere,
Come to Me then, I will resolve thy Quere.
You ask what’s Death? till dead I not know Vere,
Come to Me then, I will resolve thy Quere.
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:
rogito, -āre - ask eagerly, inquire repeatedly
ad: to, up to, towards (+acc.)
cum: with (prep. + abl.); when, since, although (conjunction + subj.)
ego me mihi mē: I, me
ergo: therefore
morior morī mortuus sum: die
mors mortis f.: death
qui, quae, quod: who, which, what; quis quid: who? what? which?
scio -īre -īvī/-iī -ītum: know
sī: if
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
venio -īre vēnī ventum: come