Poems
_____________
(Translated from the Greek by Yannis Goumas)
SHORT-LIVED DREAMS
Short-lived dreams
whose wondrous journey
ends somewhere,
oblivion wraps
in mist,
lest the eyes see them
lest the eyes recall…
2.8.32
*
LANDSCAPE
Horizons muse at the ends of the earth
when men fall asleep
or die.
8.12.32
*
LA BELLE AU BOIS DORMANT
In the forest delirious
with nightingales
dead love awakes
breathes
asks the nightingales
where the dreams are hiding
the fair visions of sleep
and goes back to sleep in songs…
17.7.33
`
*
AT THE SYMPOSION
Inconspicuously
with slow footsteps
youthfulness
retired;
and yet at the symposion
dreams steam
in its decline,
and as pure twilight
enters the room
look, they whisper
of youth’s secret…
5.3.33
*
TOMORROW
The imperceptible skies
left both sense and feeling
in stroking the surfaces.
3.5.33
*
LOVE
Nothing remains pure on earth;
even ghosts breathe…
dreams derive from memories
and all memories are pleasant.
17.4.33
*
IDIOTIC
Nothingness stirs the soul
when the soul muses with passion
over the dead, blessed past
thus abruptly, idiotic nothingness
maddens the soul…
6.3.33
*
LIED
You abandoned my heart
so stealthily!
It was already too late
when I sought your breath;
nothing of you remained,
you even took away remembrance
that I shouldn’t know how to love you anymore.
3.11.33
*
YIELDING
Observe the world’s tears
when time ails
in the cockles of the heart.
8.9.33
*
MORE ESSENTIAL
Should silence match my ego
maybe nature’s peacefulness shall spread
over knowledge,
and the dream materialize into creation
more essential in its warmth
and prolonging my life…
20.1.32
*
GOD
Poetry The world is a sea My mind
suffers unseen
My mind the self wants to
transubstantiate
to be a flower on the surface of sight
be the lapping of waves
The sun a song lightens the sea
shapes its waves clearly
I am omniscient:
I see the sea
the sun
nothing perhaps I’m dreaming of man
18-21.10.33
*
PSYCHE
Conscience, emotion’s giveaway,
you make fun of existence
The loves of Time
frequent your landscapes
you shiver on the leaves of being
you fill the universe
you know no escape
you long to travel
The world flutters on your back
and the sun bathes you in light
20.10.33
*
PROLOGUE
We are out of breath,
time vanishes, my friends;
it resembles a voice
that drew near
passed on
without being heard,
and one of us, the very best,
still hopes
but is too shy to say so…
June 1934
*
SONGSTRESS
As you hunger for
life’s merry tune
see that your thought
doesn’t tactlessly knock on the door
when, at a shindig,
all friends stop talking
to hear the pretty girl
1934
SHORT-LIVED DREAMS
Short-lived dreams
whose wondrous journey
ends somewhere,
oblivion wraps
in mist,
lest the eyes see them
lest the eyes recall…
2.8.32
*
LANDSCAPE
Horizons muse at the ends of the earth
when men fall asleep
or die.
8.12.32
*
LA BELLE AU BOIS DORMANT
In the forest delirious
with nightingales
dead love awakes
breathes
asks the nightingales
where the dreams are hiding
the fair visions of sleep
and goes back to sleep in songs…
17.7.33
`
*
AT THE SYMPOSION
Inconspicuously
with slow footsteps
youthfulness
retired;
and yet at the symposion
dreams steam
in its decline,
and as pure twilight
enters the room
look, they whisper
of youth’s secret…
5.3.33
*
TOMORROW
The imperceptible skies
left both sense and feeling
in stroking the surfaces.
3.5.33
*
LOVE
Nothing remains pure on earth;
even ghosts breathe…
dreams derive from memories
and all memories are pleasant.
17.4.33
*
IDIOTIC
Nothingness stirs the soul
when the soul muses with passion
over the dead, blessed past
thus abruptly, idiotic nothingness
maddens the soul…
6.3.33
*
LIED
You abandoned my heart
so stealthily!
It was already too late
when I sought your breath;
nothing of you remained,
you even took away remembrance
that I shouldn’t know how to love you anymore.
3.11.33
*
YIELDING
Observe the world’s tears
when time ails
in the cockles of the heart.
8.9.33
*
MORE ESSENTIAL
Should silence match my ego
maybe nature’s peacefulness shall spread
over knowledge,
and the dream materialize into creation
more essential in its warmth
and prolonging my life…
20.1.32
*
GOD
Poetry The world is a sea My mind
suffers unseen
My mind the self wants to
transubstantiate
to be a flower on the surface of sight
be the lapping of waves
The sun a song lightens the sea
shapes its waves clearly
I am omniscient:
I see the sea
the sun
nothing perhaps I’m dreaming of man
18-21.10.33
*
PSYCHE
Conscience, emotion’s giveaway,
you make fun of existence
The loves of Time
frequent your landscapes
you shiver on the leaves of being
you fill the universe
you know no escape
you long to travel
The world flutters on your back
and the sun bathes you in light
20.10.33
*
PROLOGUE
We are out of breath,
time vanishes, my friends;
it resembles a voice
that drew near
passed on
without being heard,
and one of us, the very best,
still hopes
but is too shy to say so…
June 1934
*
SONGSTRESS
As you hunger for
life’s merry tune
see that your thought
doesn’t tactlessly knock on the door
when, at a shindig,
all friends stop talking
to hear the pretty girl
1934
*
ONCE THE SEA
Once the sea took bore us on its wings
Together we descended upon sleep
Together we tried to catch birds in the sky
In the day we swam in voices and colours
In the evening we lay under trees and clouds
At night we woke up to sing
Those were tempestuous times, chaotic
Only later was there peace
But we went on spreading and receiving pleasure
Without anyone intruding
The Milky Way lead us from the rocks to the mountains
And when there was no sea God was with us
30.12.38
TWO SONGS OF SPRING
I
I think that spring
Is frightened as she sings away
Lest I should ask her for a tune
To give to my love
Ask her for a kiss
With which to kiss you
Make you a present of two wings
And make you mine
II
Come and see spring walking
And greeting us with an armful of clouds
Come and see how my daughter’s grown
And sings with a voice not hers
And sings with a tempo that’s of the whole world
As though moistening her lips from the sky’s fountain
As though her heart is flying with every swallow
And spring not knowing that she’s her own daughter!
November 1939
*
THE BREATHS OF MAY
The breaths of May
Die a valiant death
Men
And the silent prayers of girls
Rush to live with them again
In mountainous lands
That touch the sky
And chat with the sun
23.6.39
ONCE THE SEA
Once the sea took bore us on its wings
Together we descended upon sleep
Together we tried to catch birds in the sky
In the day we swam in voices and colours
In the evening we lay under trees and clouds
At night we woke up to sing
Those were tempestuous times, chaotic
Only later was there peace
But we went on spreading and receiving pleasure
Without anyone intruding
The Milky Way lead us from the rocks to the mountains
And when there was no sea God was with us
30.12.38
*
TWO SONGS OF SPRING
I
I think that spring
Is frightened as she sings away
Lest I should ask her for a tune
To give to my love
Ask her for a kiss
With which to kiss you
Make you a present of two wings
And make you mine
II
Come and see spring walking
And greeting us with an armful of clouds
Come and see how my daughter’s grown
And sings with a voice not hers
And sings with a tempo that’s of the whole world
As though moistening her lips from the sky’s fountain
As though her heart is flying with every swallow
And spring not knowing that she’s her own daughter!
November 1939
*
THE BREATHS OF MAY
The breaths of May
Die a valiant death
Men
And the silent prayers of girls
Rush to live with them again
In mountainous lands
That touch the sky
And chat with the sun
23.6.39
_____________
Μεταφραστικό Εργαστήρι, καταχώρηση από: Σπύρος Αραβανής