These words I spake, or words at least not differing much from these, and was borne along in the night through waters that made way before my stroke. The wave was radiant with the image of the reflected moon, and there was a splendour as of day in the silent night; no note came anywhere to my ears, no sound but the murmur of the waters my body thrust aside. The Halcyons only,* their hearts still true to beloved Ceyx, I heard in what seemed to me some sweet lament. And now my arms grow tired below the shoulder-joint, and with all my strength I raise myself aloft on the summit of the waters. Beholding, far off, a light, “It is my love shines in yonder flame,” I cried; “it is my light yon shores contain!” And straight the strength came back to my wearied arms, and the wave seemed easier to me than before.
* A kingfisher. Ceyx was a mythical king of Thracis, and husband of Alcyone (Ἀλκυόνη). After Ceyx was drowned at sea, the grieving Alcyone budded wings and flew across the waters to where his body rose and fell upon the swell. The two lovers were turned into living birds of the kingfisher kind, whose descendants were said to nest on the sea, thereby calming the waters. The phrase ‘halcyon days’, meaning a time of peace and prosperity, derives from the belief that Alcyone would nest during the seven days on either side of the shortest day of the year, during which time Alcyone’s Aeolus restrained the winter winds in her honour.