Katie Homata / Καίτη Χωματά

My love, I searched for you
in the dawn and in the moon
and in the heights of the clouds
I searched blindly for you,
but the weather changed, the rain came,
and your cool grace
my love I searched for you
because you were the sky.*

And if the God who formed you
with one great wish
that you have a star in your hair
and a golden heart,
on the threshing floor it rose straight up
the golden wheat
and my love loved me
because I was the sky.

My love how I lost you
how my heart stood still
and the birds snatched you
in the heavy rain;
The north wind came, the south wind came
for the wave to take you
my love, how you left
because you were the sky.

(translation: Eva Johanos
*ουρανός ~ “Uranus” means both sky and heaven)

Αγάπη μου πως σ’ έχασα
πως η καρδιά μου εστάθη
και τα πουλιά σ’ αρπάξανε
μες στην πολύ βροχή,
ήρθε νοτιάς, ήρθε βοριάς
το κύμα να σε πάρει
αγάπη μου που μού ‘φυγες
γιατί ήσουν ουρανός.

In the river
the canon is silenced
in the desert
a nightingale is winging

They throw the old swords away with joy, and they are gone
they throw the old swords away,
the neighborhoods echo

God laughs
in the light the evening star*
smiles
on the road to the house

(translation: Eva Johanos
*αποσπερίτη ~ “evening star,” the planet Venus, the first celestial light to be seen at sundown, which is also seen before dawn as the “morning star”)

The hours of the night are passing
My sleep the rain is chasing
I’m afraid that the rains might have taken you
and I’m all alone
I’m afraid that the rains might have taken you
and I’m all alone

I’ll chase away the clouds
I’ll become a wind
I’ll shimmer on your path
I’ll become a star
And even if the twilight again
brings me sorrow
I’ll stay by your path
to become fire

I’ll chase away the clouds…

Your door the wind knocks
The house is heavy with silence
I seek the shimmer of the day
I ask for your voice
I seek the shimmer of the day
I ask for your voice

I’ll chase away the clouds…

The hours of the night are passing
The rain has taken my sleep
Were you lost to unknown lands
Were you bound by foreign sorrows
Were lost to unknown lands
Were you bound by foreign sorrows

I’ll chase away the clouds…

Night covered the morning
not to see I’m lonely
my wilderness I bring you
beside you I kneel and bow

Though I love you
I have you not
With tears I fill the sky.

Where do you travel and laugh
Tell me why you love me not
Embroidery of stars on your hair
But your heart I have not

Though I love you,
I have you not,
Nor do I bear hope.

I cross my heart
And ask for comfort
My wilderness is killing me
Inside, along with my grief

Though I love you,
I have you not,
And aimlessly I wander.

Κι αν σ’ αγαπώ δεν σ’ ορίζω
και τριγυρίζω δίχως σκοπό.

Twelve boys from school and Christina in one class
with kit gloves
The boys swore on their honor and courage
that they would steal Christina

They got in a boat and sailed off with double sails
Christina, little Christina
Come on and get on our boat, to come and go
and we’ll sing a song on the way

The stars trembled under the caress of the west wind*
on his beautiful evening
Golden flowers were scattered over the prairie of the sea
on his beautiful evening

Little Christina is singing, the captain of the boat
how sweet is her voice!
And she sings songs of love and passion
and of a kiss that burns

Laughter and songs were silenced, the boys are fighting each other
they are struggling, hoping for a kiss
No one is at the oar, no one is at the wheel
longing encircles them

And the boat of yearning goes to the depths of the waters
with the sufferings of passionate love
I do not cry for the twelve boys, the young men, the students
nor the twelve mothers

I only cry for the bright eyes, the lithe little body
the wild beast, the little deer,
who was twelve years old, a little Virgin Mary,
who made the neighborhood shine

(translation: Eva Johanos
*Zephyr ~ the west wind)

Μόν’ κλαίω τα μάτια τα γλαρά, το λυγερό κορμάκι
τ’ αγρίμι το ελαφάκι
Που ήτανε δώδεκα χρονών, παρθένα Παναγιά μου
κι έλαμπε η γειτονιά μου