* * *

For distant shores of homeland
You left this alien land;
In that never-forgotten hour, that time of grief
I wept long before you.
With hands turned to ice
I tried to keep you with me;
My cries begged you to postpone
The dreadful anguish of parting.
But from my bitter kisses
You wrenched away your lips;
And from this gloomy exile
You bade me to another land.
You said: ‘That day we meet again
Under skies forever blue,
Shaded by olive trees, our love
With kisses we’ll renew.’
But there, alas, where heaven’s arch
Shines down its brilliant blue,
Where waters murmur below the cliffs
You sleep eternal rest.

Your beauty and your suffering
Have vanished in the grave,
With them the long-awaited greeting kiss...
Yet still I wait, I hold you to your promise!