October
autumn offers its benches
under the rusty foliage dropping
the quivering dirt gets stuck to your
foot you may hear its rustling spinning later on when
underneath the crows’ wings
light conceals
and the bizarre sneak of the rats
among chess pieces that
look black from one end to the other
the letters on the page fall
it squeaks underneath one’s soles
from somewhere to something
lonely girl wanders
at night
October
under the darkness of cold quilts
I cover myself
Excerpt
We shall straddle over the Alps,
the current of the Rhone we
shall surprise, we shall colour
the darkness of the north
with white, we shall charge
the mind of April and May
we shall sow a new Hellas
and a new youth in every
land we shall grow roots
and wherever we find
darkness we shall spread
new planets shining in
our splendorous light,
ascetics will befriend
life again and you will
again drink the milk of joy,
oh fasting man, a glass
of wine will make you drunk.
The Celts and Goths and
Germans and all barbarians
will rejoice in our company
and first of all the Italian
cassock covered priests and pontiffs
will bow before the feet
of Helen and they will
revere the swan of Eurotas.
Manolis Aligizakis 