Yiorgos Kazantzis / Γιώργος Καζαντζής

It is not he who made your day into night
nor the black which washes off the numbers
it is not the world which steals your air
and the darkness which thoughts gesture towards you

What resembles a prison
is your flight
which has wings but cannot
cut your ties

Take the light of eros
a knife from my heart
leave the earth to the many
and fly here near me.

It is not he who diminished your evenings
nor is it that you cannot dream now
look a bit at what the signs are telling you
and your destruction, ask you to resist.

What resembles a prison
is your flight
which has wings but cannot
cut your ties

Take the light of eros
a knife from my heart
leave the earth to the many
and fly here near me.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

It’s too late for me to hate you
The wind relieves me
they hunt me, the bees
and you who did not want me.

I sprinkle with a sprig of basil
to stop the evil
they had bound you, witches
but again you have broken me.

The night falls; I go out to find you
like a little moon of two days
closed window shutters
for you to love me- how much I wanted it.

I throw thyme onto the fires
they tyrannize me, the beautiful things
the beautiful things, the murderesses
and you, who forgot me.

If I cry don’t be afraid of me
I felt it even before you were lost
a bitterness in the rosewater
because you rejected my dream.

I will throw it there where you walk
our oath, so you may step on it
and let them give me pain, the bees
and you who did not want me

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Θα ρίχνω εκεί που περπατάς
τον όρκο μας να τον πατάς
κι ας με πονούν οι μέλισσες
κι εσύ που δε με θέλησες

Charts, your eyes, and I travel
in your gaze I search for islands,
sweet and salty they resemble seas,
waves they send and frighten me.

Charts, your eyes, and I turn about
each of your secret harbors I know
roads and frontiers, all yours,
ten telegraphs in your glance.

Thousands of nights you take me on journeys,
like a mattress with fireworks you torment my body,
thousands of nights you take me on journeys
in the depths of the Atlantic you search for my body.

Charts, your eyes, and I turn about
each of your secret harbors I know
roads and frontiers, all yours,
ten telegraphs in your glance.

Thousands of nights you take me on journeys,
like a mattress with fireworks you torment my body,
thousands of nights you take me on journeys
in the depths of the Atlantic you search for my body.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Χιλιάδες νύχτες με ταξιδεύεις
σα στρώμα με βεγγαλικά το σώμα μου παιδεύεις,
χιλιάδες νύχτες με ταξιδεύεις
στα βάθη του Ατλαντικού το σώμα μου γυρεύεις.