Quid Sum?
Dum nihil ipse vides, facio te multa videre;
Lumina ni claudat, me quoque nemo videt.
Source: Nicolaus Reusnerus (1545-1602), Aenigmata, 162. Meter: Elegiac. Somnus is the answer to this riddle.
While you yourself (dum ipse) nihil vides (see nothing), I make you (facio te) see many things (multa videre); unless you close your eyes (ni lumina claudat), no one (nemo videt) sees me too (me quoque).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. All the words in this poem are on that list:
claudō claudere clausī clausum: close, shut
dum: while (+ indic.); until (+ subj.); provided that (+ subj.)
ego meī mihi mē: I, me
faciō facere fēcī factum: do, make
ipse ipsa ipsum: him- her- itself
lūmen luminis n.: light
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
nēmo: no one (gen. nullius, dat. nulli, abl. nullo or nulla > nullus -a -um)
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
nisi/nī: if not, unless
quoque: also, too
somnus -ī m.: sleep, slumber; (pl.) dreams
tū tuī tibi tē: you (sing.)
videō vidēre vīdī vīsum: see
