The Grave of Homer by Alcaeus of Messene

The visionary dream of life is o’er;
The bard of heroes sleeps on Ios’ shore:
Fair Ios’ sons their lamentations pay,
And wake the funeral dirge or solemn lay.
O’er his pale lifeless corse and drooping head

Ambrosial sweets the weeping nereids shed,
And on the shore their sleeping poet laid,
Beneath the towering mountain’s peaceful shade.
Nor undeserved their care,—his tuneful tongue
Achilles’ wrath and Thetis’ sorrows sung;

His strains Laertes’ son in triumph bore,
Through woes unnumbered, to his native shore.
Blest isle of Ios! On thy rocky steeps
The Star of Song—the Grace of Graces—sleeps.

From: http://www.bartleby.com/270/9/72.html

Date: c1814 (translated)

By: Alcaeus of Messene (c3rd-2nd century BCE)

Translated by: William Haygarth (1784-1825)