Εὐ­θύ­μιος Λέν­τζας: Στὶς τρεῖς τὸ με­ση­μέ­ρι

Poem by Romos Fyliras

Inspiration

Nothing matters in the world but inspiration

alone it sings a lullaby to bitter pain

and rescues us from time’s relentless pace.

To see you, to take the beauties that you have

and melt them in my verse’s flowing stream,

to nourish them, to multiply, one grand idea

sprinkled with inspiration’s myrrh.   

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Νίκος Σφαμένος, ποίημα

In the Dark

The lamp-lighter passed with his ladder late in the evening,

he lighted the lamps of the island as if he opened holes

         in the darkness,

as if he dug deep yellow water wells. In the wells, standing,

drowned, and coppery-green, the lampposts rock back and forth.

A crucifix gleamed on the belltower of Santa Pelagia; a dog

barked behind the stable; a second one in the Customs office.

The restaurant sign dripped blood, the man with his naked chest

held a big red knife; the woman with uncombed hair

was beating the egg whites in a bowl.

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Miracle

During the second month of the adventure the hour

of our hunger had arrived and we decided to become

an edifice of pious men, innocent supplicants stitched

on the faded wall of ignorance when with a sudden

gleam, as in a rapture, we opened the lid of Aeolus’

bag and let all hell loose: our saints and sins scattered

to the four corners of the galaxy, dumbness and treachery

and moral bankruptcy.

Suddenly I remembered my Uncle Anthony with

his wrinkles and the unblemished smile and it were

as if another rose bloomed in my magical garden.

We evoked our unchained freedom, we broke doors,

fragments of the broken pitcher we gathered, in awe

and reverence we glued a new beginning, the first

miracle, on our faces

and it was good.

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                                    Modigliani, Italy

Day and Night

Like the wind passing through the leaves,
You pass through my mind.

Like a bird sleeping in a tree,
You sleep in my mind.

***

ΜΕΡΑ ΝΥΧΤΑ

Διαπερνάς τη σκέψη μου

όπως ο αγέρας ανάμεσα στα φύλλα

σαν το πουλί που κουρνιάζει στο δέντρο

ξεκουράζεσαι στο νου μου.

Woman

An erupting volcano
A sealed universe
A continuously flowing stream

An unforgiving heaven
A treacherous marsh
A sky thrown open

The term of all longing
The sign for all craving
Palace of secrets

Erupting eternity

Fertile desire
Mystery never solved.

ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ

Ηφαίστειο που εκρύγνεται

Σφραγίδα της Οικουμένης

Αστέρευτο ρυάκι που κυλά

Παράδεισος που σεν συγχωρεί

Επικίνδυνο μονοπάτι

Ουρανός διάπλατα ανοιχτός.

Σημείο επιθυμίας

Σημάδι πόθου

Παλάτι μυστηρίων

Αιωνειότητα έκρηξη

Γόνιμος ερωτισμός

Μυστήριο αξεδιάλυτο.

Μετάφραση Μανώλη Αλυγιζάκη//translated by Manolis Aligizakis

Cho Byung–hwa, Korea (1921–2003)

From “Selected Poems”

Translation by Kevin O’Rourke – Stanley Barkan

Long Listed for the 2023 Griffin Poetry Awards

2023 Longlist Announcement

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