Yannis Ritsos – Poems, Volume IV

ORESTES

… mother always discovered her most precious movement
and stand this way, exactly at the time of its absence —
I was always afraid that she would vanish from our eyes,
she would better ascend — when she leaned down to tie
her sandal that left out her fantastic, painted, cyclamen-
nails or when she fixed her hair in front of the big mirror
with such a cute movement of her hand, youngish and
weightless, as if she erased three or four stars off the
forehead of the cosmos, as if she wanted two daisies
to kiss each other in front of the fountain, as if she looked at
two dogs maternally while they were coupling in the middle
of the dusty road during the summer, hot noon. Mother
was so simple, strong, imposing, unexplored and
convincing.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763815

Twelve Narratives of the Gypsy

Take off your iron shirt and
all the arms of battle, put on
what suits you the victor:
the rosy chiton with the satin
flowers and diamonds; come
dismount your horse, so it
too can rest and grace the Polis
with your light, oh Sun King,
spread your light equally
so we won’t be blinded by it.
Soon as the hymn from the
Venetians ended a new hymn
started coming from a faraway
corner, a black hymn that
swelled like a wave, the tempest’s
offspring and it wasn’t hymn but
a wailing and a curse, which
the Frontiersmen sang. When
the Prophet heard it he shivered.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3LP7NW6

The Incidentals

Cleaner
He stoops and wipes the surface of
the small washroom cabinet: he opens
the small door places two rolls of toilet
paper in it, two bars of soap on the side
of the sink, wipes the bowl, lucky here
the bowls aren’t like the filthy ones
in the army where he spent two years
before emigrating to Canada; he
empties the small basket with its few
leftovers, luckily enough the toilet
paper is discarded in the bowl…he
now has one last chore: to mop
the floor of the 28th floor before he’ll
go down one and so on until he
reaches the main floor late in the
afternoon in this much-needed job
he got into this foreign land especially
for one who isn’t fluent in the new
language, as in his case, and who
although a university graduate this
is the only job he could land in
his early days in Canada where
having a degree from another
Faraway University makes not a single
difference in the great scheme of things

https://draft2digital.com/book/3745812

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763637

Hours of the Stars

Supper Prayer*
Oh God, covered in goodness
you deigned to dress him
with dignity that he’ll
again today share
a table with You

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763408