An Idle King

I am an idle king, a hollow king

With the wind and sea at my back,

Whose shade walks among the dread bones of Hades.

My ghostly beard is long, long.

Once in time I left my island home

With a glut of fishermen, meat and libations;

But bad fortune found us

Amidst the seas

And we were not ready.

I do not exist, oh moon.

I do not exist, oh little stars.

And yet I have dreams

In which I sing with a voice,

But even that is small, dry and pale.

I wait for the gods to come back

I have waited for centuries,

For millennia, but they are long gone,

And there are no more myths to speak of.

I wait for release, oh sun,

I wait for release, oh little stars.

Help me rise from this life to the next.

Do not leave me fatally

And finally

Stuck.