Messenger
Piled with men dead, yea, miserably slain,
Is every beach, each reef of Salamis!
Chorus
Thou sayest sooth—ah well-a-day!
Battered amid the waves, and torn,
On surges hither, thither, borne,
Dead bodies, bloodstained and forlorn,
In their long cloaks they toss and stray!
Messenger
Their bows availed not! all have perished, all,
By charging galleys crushed and whelmed in death.
Chorus
Shriek out your sorrow's wistful wail!
To their untimely doom they went;
Ill strove they, and to no avail,
And minished is their armament!
Messenger
Out on thee, hateful name of Salamis,
Out upon Athens, mournful memory!
Chorus
Woe upon this day's evil fame!
Thou, Athens, art our murderess;
Alack, full many a Persian dame
Is left forlorn and husbandless!
