One from Seferis

The Argonauts (By George Seferis)

"If a soul is to know itself, it must look into another soul" (The Odyssey, Homer)
"We saw the enemy and the stranger in the mirror" (Emperor John Tzimisces)

The comrades were good boys; they did not complain
of cold, thirst or toil
they had the manner of tree and wave
who accept wind and rain
accept sun and night
not changing within change.
They were good boys; for days on end they sweated on their oars
(with downcast eyes)
breathing in rhythm,
and their blood quickened a subservient skin.
Sometimes they would sing (with downcast eyes)
like the time when we passed by that fig-tree island,
past the cape where the dogs barked at us.

If a soul is to know itself, they sang,
it must look into another soul, they sang,
and the oars beat the sunset golden sea.
We went past many coasts, many islands, from one
sea into another sea, past seals and seagulls.
We met desperate women who wept for their lost children,
and other savage women who sought Alexander the Great
and glory sunk into the heart of Asia.
We rested by beaches full of night perfume and birdsong,
drank waters from springs which left on the lips
memories as of some great happiness.
But the journeys just would not end.
Their souls became one with the oars and the beams,
one with the serious figurehead on the prow,
with the wake at our back,
with the moisture which condensed on their brow.
The comrades ended one by one (with downcast eyes).
Their oars, bleached by the sun
mark the spots where they sleep under the sand.
Justice: No living soul remembers them.