Nicolas Greenwood

To the Depths of the Ionian Sea


In memoriam, Vladislav Petković Dis

(1880-1917)


We sink, for the shore’s too far to see
We fall from a dark and ominous sky
To the depths of the Ionian Sea.

From the deep we pulled up our anchors three
With bleeding hands we raised our colors high
We sink, for the shore’s too far to see.

We dream of nothing but eternity
We descend to a place where great men lie
To the depths of the Ionian Sea.

Lo, our hearts yet beat, our eyes yet see!
Oh hollow deep! Drown not our cry!
We sink, for the shore’s too far to see.

O’er life Fate has chosen serenity
To eternal rest like birds we fly
To the depths of the Ionian Sea.

To our tombs ordained by Deity
Below the waves’ unceasing lullaby
We sink, for the shore’s too far to see
To the depths of the Ionian Sea.

To the Depths of the Ionian Sea

About This Poem

Vladislav Petković Dis was one of the greatest Serbian impressionist poets. During my time in Čačak, Serbia, I had the privilege to volunteer for some time in the district library, which is named after him. Dis’s birthplace, Zablaće, is a small village only a few kilometers outside the city of Čačak. As my days of volunteering drew closer to an end at his library, writing a poem in his commemoration was all but inevitable.

Petković Dis, as you may have noticed reading his life dates above the poem, did not live a very long life. With a weak constitution that followed him to his final day, Dis’s life is one marked with moments of great joy but also great tragedy. On May 30th, 1917, at the age of 37, while returning from France to Corfu to rejoin his exiled nation on the Salonica front of WWI, a torpedo from an Austro-Hungarian U-boat sunk the passenger steamship carrying Dis, sinking the poet and many on board to the depths of the Ionian Sea.

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