O free me, for I take the leap

    Μνάσασθαί τινά φαμι καὶ ὔστερον ἄμμεων·

    O FREE me, for I take the leap, 
    Apollo, from thy snowy steep ! 
    Song did'st thou give me, and there fell 
    O'er Hellas an enchanter's spell; 
    I heard young lovers catch the strain : 
    For me there is the hoary main ; 
    I would not hear my words again. 

    Ah, lord of speech, well dost thou know 
    The incommunicable woe 
    Finds not in lyric cry release, 
    Finds but in Hades' bosom peace ; 
    And therefore on thy temple-ground 
    Thou pointest lovers to the mound 
    Set high above the billows' sound. 

    Though in unfathomed seas I sink, 
    Men will remember me, I think, 
    Remember me, my King, as thine ; 
    And must I take a shape divine 
    As thine immortal, let me be 
    A dumb sea-bird with breast love-free, 
    And feel the waves fall over me.