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Translated by W. H. Hurlburt
THALATTA! Thalatta! | |
| I greet thee, thou Ocean eternal! | |
| I give thee ten thousand times greeting, | |
| With heart all exulting, | |
| As, ages since, hailed thee | 5 |
| Those ten thousand Greek hearts | |
| Fate-conquering, home-yearning, | |
| World-renowned Greek hearts. | |
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| The billows were rolling, | |
| Were rolling and roaring, | 10 |
| The sun poured downward incessant | |
| The flickering rose-lights; | |
| Affrighted, the flocks of the sea-mews | |
| Fluttered away, loud screaming; | |
| The steeds were stamping, the shields were clanging, | 15 |
| And far, like a shout of victory, echoed | |
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | |
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| Thou Ocean eternal, I greet thee! | |
| Like the tongue of my home is the dash of thy waters! | |
| Like dreams of my childhood now sparkle before me | 20 |
| All the wide curving waves of thy rolling dominions. | |
| I hear, as told newly, the old recollections | |
| Of the trifles I loved in the days of my boyhood. | |
| Of the bright gifts that glittered at Christmas;— | |
| Of the scarlet branches of coral, | 25 |
| Of the gold-fish, the pearls and gay sea-shells, | |
| Of all that thou guardest in secret | |
| Below in thy houses of crystal! | |
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| O, how have I languished, | |
| Aweary in exile! | 30 |
| Like a poor faded flower shut up in an herbal | |
| Lay my heart in my bosom; | |
| ’T is as if I had sat through the winter | |
| A sick man shut up in my chamber, | |
| And now I had suddenly left it,— | 35 |
| And dazzlingly glitters upon me | |
| The emerald Spring, sun-awakened! | |
| On the trees are the white blossoms rustling, | |
| And the young flowers look up unto me, | |
| With moist loving eyes full of beauty. | 40 |
| All is fragrance and murmurs and soft airs and laughter, | |
| And in the blue heavens the birds are a singing | |
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | |
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