Kenotaphion
by
O wanderer! whoever thou mayest be,
I beg of thee to pass in silence here
And leave me with my empty sepulchre
Beside the ceaseless turmoil of the sea;
Pass me as one whom life’s old tragedy
Hath made distraught–who now in dreams doth keep
His cherished dead, unmindful of her sleep
In ocean’s bosom locked eternally!
Scorn not the foolish grave that I have made
Beside the deep sea of my soul’s unrest,
But let me hope that when the storms are stayed
My phantom ship shall sail from out the west
Bringing the boon for which I long have prayed–
The broken vigil and the ended quest.