Orfeo's Lament Poem by Glen Martin Fitch

So 'lone is the stranger
Away from his homeland.
So sad is the shipwrecked,
The castaway clinging.
So silent the stillborn
Adrift in the womb's sea.

A sailor, an exile,
I sought a new country
Till ocean and heaven
Above and below me
In deluge did battle
And left me for flotsam.

So cold was the water!
It pierced till it numbed me.
So swift was the current
That pulled and embraced me.
So fierce were the brine waves
That tasted like tear drops.

If I had been washed up
To wake on the shore of
The Isle of Dead Heroes,
The Kingdom of Hades,
I'd rest with the valiant,
Share tales and libations.

But death did not take me,
Instead I was stranded
To weep with the living,
Who battered by sorrows
Still gasp, though despairing,
And thrash in misfortune.

If I long for silence
Why still does my heart beat?
If I wish for darkness
Why still do my eyes see?
If I'm bound for dying
Why still do my wounds heal?

I don't mourn for infants
At rest from life's labors.
I don't cry for sailors
Who sway 'neath the ocean.
I sigh for the exile
Who lingers untaken.