Modesty
I don’t want anyone to feel
the beauty I hide inside me
no one can come near it
without hurting it.
I have a bloomed lily inside me
without any shadow on its face
it has never longed for lust
nor ever anyone has kissed it.
I have inside me a rose that
balances on its own flame
and as a holocaust
it keeps silent and blesses.
I have inside me an ambivalent daisy
with its ever agreeing heart
that sways in its loneliness
and adorns its own beauty
and I have other symbols flowers
and others that intoxicate
yet the most delicate ones
bloom only in their imagination.
The beauty I hide inside me
no one ever will feel
if one hurts it a fool he’d be
and he won’t even regret it.
Manolis Aligizakis 