Classic Poem

Shall I ever lie where I would lie,
Under the sea, at last?
Shall I ever sleep where I would sleep,
In a grave deep and vast?
Shall I ever feel sands sifting
Over my soulless bones,
I who am weary of wanton drifting
And weighted down with groans?

Shall I ever gaze thence upward
Through emerald fathoms the tide
Has shovelled deeply over me
And see stars swarm inside
The hollow of space, like maggots
Within a dead God's brain?
Shall I ever lie uncaring
And free at last of pain?

Oh, it is long since Phoenicia
Went down to the sea in ships,
Since Salamis—and Actium lost
For Cleopatra's lips.
Oh, it is long men suffer,
And the end is not yet.
Shall I ever lie where I would lie,
And forget, forget, forget?