POEM BY NIKIFOROS VRETTAKOS

AN ALMOND TREE AND YOU NEXT TO IT

An almond tree and you

next to it

but when did you blossom?

I stand by the window

and seeing you I cry

my eyes can’t take all

this joy

oh God, please give me

the cisterns of the sky

that I fill them all

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POEM BY MARIA POLYDOURI

MY SONGS WERE ONLY WRITTEN FOR HIM

Why do I need to accept the Muse’s projection?

That I tighten my heart and accept

new loves, beliefs and joys

as if it was my Fate’s doing and so exceptional?

Time has passed since the rayed spark of my eye

shone onto the holy and the mortal.

Oh, I haven’t kept the senseless lyre of passion

since my songs were only written for Him.

And I sang the grief of my pure soul

along with the sad joy of tears

and all the joy of my song was nothing but his voice

that I’d hear one evening in front of his humble dwelling.

And as sometime I read my joy in his eyes

what more valuable opinion can I state?

At our separation like swallows the verse brought

to him the message: even from faraway twice I love him.    

And now my voice leaves not any grieving echo

as it’s covered by the darkness of the night

yet everyone is afraid and I still believe

that I’ve reached the heavy gate of Hades.

For why would I accept the call of Muse when

my trust on gods and people shuttered inside me?

A senseless Lyre of passion doesn’t suit me

since my songs were only written for Him.

‘Karyotakis-Polydouri: The Tragic Love Story’ poetry translated by Manolis Aligizakis