The Sirens sang and every Argonaut,
He heard their song, and languidness it brought;
Homecoming longed for would not be attained,
But all their strength, their will, would then be drained.
The ship itself they would have run aground,
If Orpheus had not within him found
So great a store of the divine, that he
Yet took his lyre, and plucking was set free;
And not himself alone he saved, but they
Who sailed with him, they also fled away.
A lively march he played to energize,
Thus drowning out the Sirens’ fatal cries.
Then Zephyr rose; soon they were out of reach,
Of the bewitching Sirens’ song and speech:
But Boutes, son of Teleon, he leapt
Into the sea, to swim for shore, but swept
Away was he, else he had swum to shore
And died, his bones to lay there evermore.
But Cypris, Erycian queen, did look
With pity on his soul, and so, she took
Him up into her seaside haven, while
The Argonauts sailed safely from the isle.