A Translation of Catullus 101: A Brother's Lament

I found myself being wowed by Catullus 101, a poem written in elegiac couplet by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. My take on such a beautiful poem.

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus,
      advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
      et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem.
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
     Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
     tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
      atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.

Through many people and many seas I traveled,
     arriving at this miserable tribute to the passed, brother,
so that I might at last give endowment to the dead
     and that I might speak to silent ashes in vain.
Seeing that fortune herself took you from me,
     alas, my unfortunate brother, stolen unfairly,
now however, by the ancient custom of our forefathers,
     to give these things as miserable gifts to the dead,
accept them, drenched with the tears of a brother,
     and forever, my brother, hail and farewell.

Author's Note

I could not have done this without my buddy Arah, and our Cambridge Latin Course book. Haha. Though I love this poem. Very much so.