THE GENIUS OF THE LAMP
(In the Light of the Lamp by Nicolae Tonitza1)
For a while I have begun to recognize the passage through worlds,
As the beginning of a second’s beginning,
An imperceptible break fleetingly smelling miracles,
This is how I know today that from my eyes
The genius of the lamp, tamed (maybe by the grace of the evening,
of the curtains, or of the girl),
Comes back into the painting
Challenging the destiny he has in Oriental tales,
And slim and crepuscular again,
It converges from all the corners of the world,
In order to keep vigil, protectively,
Over the effervescent kindness that unites the being and the book,
The passion sipping up all that has been and all that is…
Manolis Aligizakis 