Goodbye, oh cavern of my vigils,
nymphs that haunt the dew-moist meadows,
and endless thunder of the sea
whose waters often drenched my head
with salt-spray borne on the south wind,
and often Mount Hermaion’s cliffs
echoed my groans again to me
as chorus to my storms of pain.
For now, oh springs and Lycian well,
I leave forever, I set sail
beyond where any hope could go.
Goodbye oh Lemnos, sea-wrapped shore,
and prosper me with favoring breeze
to sail where mighty fate conjoins
resolve of friends and masterful
divinity that shaped these things.
Translation © Carey Jobe. Original:
χαῖρ’, ὦ μέλαθρον ξύμφρουρον ἐμοί,
νύμφαι τ’ ἔνυδροι λειμωνιάδες,
καὶ κτύπος ἄρσην πόντου προβολῆς,
οὗ πολλάκι δὴ τοὐμὸν ἐτέγχθη
κρᾶτ᾽ ἐνδόμυχον πληγαῖσι νότου,
πολλὰ δὲ φωνῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας
Ἑρμαῖον ὄρος παρέπεμψεν ἐμοὶ
στόνον ἀντίτυπον χειμαζομένῳ.
νῦν δ’, ὦ κρῆναι Λυκιόν τε ποτόν,
λείπομεν ὑμᾶς, λείπομεν ἤδη
δόξης οὔ ποτε τῆσδ’ ἐπιβάντες.
χαῖρ’, ὦ Λήμνου πέδον ἀμφίαλον
καί μ᾽ εὐπλοίᾳ πέμψον ἀμέμπτως,
ἔνθ᾽ ἡ μεγάλη Μοῖρα κομίζει
γνώμη τε φίλων χὠ πανδαμάτωρ
δαίμων, ὃς ταῦτ᾽ ἐπέκρανεν.