To the Ship

TO THE SHIP

Lovely ship that bore me here, skirting the coast of the Ionic sea, I leave you to the gleaming waves again and with a light step leap upon the strand.

You are returning to the distant land, where the virgin is companion to the nymphs. Do not forget to thank the unseen counsellors and carry them this bough, plucked by my hands.

You were a pine-tree standing on the hills; your spiny branches, squirrels and your birds all trembled in the angry Notos 68 blast.

May Boreas guide you now, and press you gently onward to the port, black vessel companioned by the dolphins, at the mercy of the ever-watchful sea.