130 Might bear him company in [the] quest of him:

Whom whilst [I labour’d of a] love to see,

I hazarded the loss of whom I loved.

[Five summers] have I spent in furthest Greece,

Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia,

135 And, coasting homeward, came to Ephesus;

Hopeless to find, yet loath to leave unsought

Or that, or any place that harbours men.

But here must end the story of my life;

And happy were I in my timely death,