Jason

Upon the sea-beach I diffuse my limbs;
My wail athwart the harping sea-plain heaves;
The shards are bitter and the ocean brims
My sorrow from a fount where darkness grieves;
I, Jason, by this vessel of my pride.
Lie, as vain flotsam, 'neath its doughty side.

A wife I had and children — she is gone
To her own land — but first she waved my feet
To where my sons, her wrath had fallen upon.
Lay dead together 'neath their cradle-sheet.
A bride I had, but ere to bed she came
Ashes of flame she was, ashes of flame.

And I had comrades in grand years of youth:
They are all slain or care no more for deeds.
A golden aim I followed to its truth:
It is a story now no mortal heeds.
Once I drove oxen of fire-shooting lips.
Once I was a ruler of a ship of ships.

The pebbles ground like teeth within a jaw;
A moan of angry timber thundered forth;
And the great poop of Argo rolled its maw.
With a wave's action, from the south to north:
Earth quaked in fear at glimpse of Jason's doom.
As slant on him fell Argo as a tomb.