Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.

Turkey in Europe, and the Principalities: Dardanelles (Hellespont)

The Hellespont

By Théophile Gautier (1811–1872)

Translated by C. F. Bates

WAVE unto shore in an embrace

Doth ever rue;

The dawn to cheer the wild-flower’s face

Distils the dew.

The wind of evening makes its moan

To cypress-tree;

To terebinth the turtle low

Plains mournfully.

When all save grief hath found repose,

The moon doth speak,

And to the dormant waves disclose

Her pallid cheek.

Sophia, thy white dome doth seem

To greet blue heaven;

And pensively the heaven’s calm dream

To God is given.

Or dove or rose, or wave or tomb,

Or rock or tree;

All here below hath somewhere room

Itself to free;

But I, alone, am all alone,

And there is naught

Save, Hellespont, thy sombre tone

Gives back my thought!