Through many countries and over many seas <br />I have come, Brother, to these melancholy rites, <br />to show this final honour to the dead, <br />and speak (to what purpose?) to your silent ashes, <br />since now fate takes you, even you, from me. <br />Oh, Brother, ripped away from me so cruelly, <br />now at least take these last offerings, blessed <br />by the tradition of our parents, gifts to the dead. <br />Accept, by custom, what a brother’s tears drown, <br />and, for eternity, Brother, ‘Hail and Farewell’.<br /><br />Gaius Valerius Catullus<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ave-atque-vale/
