Michalis Zambetas / Μιχάλης Ζαμπέτας

I had an uncle who was a tough guy
The legendary Panais
Proud and noble
A long dagger at his waist
Black mustache curled at the ends
[At the] Cafe Aman* a ladies’ man

He had killed a Turkish cop
when he was passing smuggled goods
in front of the forest guard station
To save the tobacco
He climbed up into the mountains
And distributed it in the City**

Hunted in Vourla
a handsome man and a smuggler
and the terror of Turkey
riding a slender horse
his eye dark and heavy
he stepped and the road trembled

Tipsy, in high spirits one evening
And as he was a man with heart
He was hit with a bout of madness
And with bam and boum of pistol shots
He roused the neighborhoods
And brought down two bordellos

And one dull grey evening
they brought him to us, carrying him
into the house
with a bloodied throat
his back broken
wounded very heavily by a knife

Hunted in Vourla
a handsome man and a smuggler
and the terror of Turkey
riding a slender horse
his eye dark and heavy
he stepped and the road trembled (X2)

(translation: Eva Johanos
*Cafe Aman: a cafe where refreshments and pleasures of many kinds were offered
** the City: Constantinople)

Μες τα Βουρλά κατιρματζής
αντάμης και κοντραμπατζής
και της τουρκιάς ο τρόμος
καβάλα σε λιγνό φαρί
το μάτι του θόλο βαρύ
πατούσε κι έτρεμε ο δρόμος (X2)