II
Eros caresses the ephebe’s heart as the Muses
sing delights to the senses and an ethereal
conscience suffuses under the citadel
of Athena, where thoughts create a man
and infinite splendor spreads over every
pleat of the insignificant, and in which
the lyre fills the air with its diaphanous
euphony. The dark blue Aegean is in consonance
with Eros when the freest mind
succumbs to the freeing poison as
the glaucous sky sheds tears and the
agile goat climbs the rocks licking the salt
of its sweat. The body is hardened like
a stone. The crest of the eastern sky
shivers from the taste of blood
as under the shining marbles
the furies unleash macabre lamentations
and the vision of an analytical mind ascends.
Manolis Aligizakis 