And they said to one another:
Who’s the one with the violin
who isn’t pleasing our hearts
and inflames the surprise and
anger in our viscera? Who’s
conniving with his unwise
hand awakening this violin
which talks of what we watch
it doesn’t see and what we hold
it doesn’t keep and in all
festivities and joys the anguish
stands before us like the traitor
of our kin and killer of our joy?
No other bow has ever played
such ugly, novice and imperfect
music on any gypsy violin
like the music of this foolish one.
And only the young children
oh the beloved children
filled my serene loneliness
turning it into my main fun
since my violin always
surprised and attracted them
and they run around me
with their big and bright eyes
into which they always
had hidden a tiny secret and
they made of all their surprise
and awe a great silence and joy
from my violin, the cursed
violin as if my own race,
from the far future time.
Manolis Aligizakis 