Ceyx

As a wall of water breaks over his ship, Ceyx clings to wreckage and calls Halcyone's name. He had sailed after promising his wife he would return before the moon had twice completed its course. She had asked to share the voyage and its danger, but he left her behind. The wind strengthened, the mast and helm broke, and the crew were scattered among the waves.

Ceyx calls on his father and father-in-law, yet Halcyone fills his thoughts and his voice. Between the waves he asks that his body might reach her shore and receive burial from her hands. The billow falls across him, and he sinks.

Morpheus later comes to Halcyone in Ceyx's likeness, soaked and pale, and tells her that the ship was destroyed. She wakes reaching for the figure she saw. In the days that follow she goes towards the shore, where a body drifts closer. At first she pities an unknown dead man; then she recognises her husband and reaches towards him. Newly formed wings carry her over the water. The gods change both into birds, and their love remains as the account closes.