EPITAPH ON HERACLEITUS

They told me, Heracleitus, they told me you were dead;

They brought me bitter news to hear, and bitter tears I shed.

I wept, as I remembered how often you and I

Had tired the sun with talking and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,

A handful of gray ashes, long, long ago at rest,

Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;

For Death he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

Translation of William Johnson.

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 07 · 第 267 / 285 题