Sophocles
From: Oedipus at Colonus
The Song for Oedipus' Death (lines 1556-1578)
Dare it be right t' adore thee,
Lord of the drowned in night,
Aidoneus Underworld.
Take all pain from his passing,
Pain of the horror screaming.
Let him gently achieve
The way where all must disappear
In the river of Hell and the valley of bones.
Look, look, the marked face, the crass
Permeation of his pain.
Is there a power, below, to aid him?
Goddess and queen of dark, where the untameable
Beast of your secret threshold
Trodden by all mankind
Must sleep, sleep, sleep, growl, growl,
Through deep caves, never muzzled
Sentry for everlasting
As the stories have told.
Oh Lord, earth's child and child of Hell,
Oh Lord, I pray that a peace may fall.
Lord, guide this man through the waste,
Through the black expanse of bones.
On thee I call Lord, the sleep unending.
The Sophocles translations, 'The Song of Man and the City', 'The Song of Unconquered Love', from the Antigone, and 'The Song Welcoming Oedipus into Athenian Territory' and the 'The Song for Oedipus' Death' from Oedipus at Colonus, are isometric translations — i.e. the English reproduces the metre of the Greek.
Translated by Leo Aylen
Page(s) 239-240
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