Ellie Paspala / Έλλη Πασπαλά

The way you are acting, the way you are going
you are losing your way and stumbling
don’t force yourself with me
it goes deep, the root of Jesse…

The thank you that I owe to you
is deep, deeper than eros
however, that thank you
I have not found the words to tell you

Don’t be afraid, and don’t stop
look straight ahead and love me
Don’t lose hope
it is deep, the root of Jesse…

Don’t be afraid to love me
look straight ahead and don’t lose hope
and when you feel timid and don’t dare
embrace me and go forward.

The thank you that I owe to you
is deep, deeper than eros
That “I love you”
I am still looking for a way to tell you.

The thank you that I owe to you
is deep, deeper than eros
however, that thank you
I have not found the way to tell you

(translation: Eva Johanos)

*(‎”The Root of Jesse” – iconographic theme which developed in the West, appearing from the 13th century AD and since in Byzantine art. It consists of iconographic re-telling of the prophecy of Isaiah (11,1). The theological message is the symbolic representation of the human ancestry of Jesus from the side of King David.)

(Ρίζα του Ιεσσα
εικονογραφικό θέμα που αναπτύσσεται στη Δύση και εμφανίζεται από το 13ο αιώνα και εξής και στη βυζαντινή τέχνη. Αποτελεί εικαστική απόδοση της προφητείας του Ησαΐα (11,1). Το θεολογικό μήνυμα της παράστασης είναι η συμβολική απεικόνιση της ανθρώπινης καταγωγής του Ιησού από την πλευρά του βασιλιά Δαυίδ.)

Once upon a time
as the stories say
I hunted the dream
to learn the truth.

Could it* be the sun, could it be a star?
Who saw her, who knows her. . .
Ach, why. . . ach, why
does it resemble a closed heart?

Once upon a time
some angel passing by
on a shining seashore
had written her name.

But as the wind passed
Who saw her, who knows her. . .
Ach, why. . . ach, why
is she like an extinguished spark?

Once upon a time
in the fire and in the fight
I faced her, I believe
as a red drop.

But before the summer goes out
Who saw her, who knows her.
Ach, why. . . ach, why
has she been forgotten in life.

(translation: Eva Johanos
*it: truth, in Greek, has the feminine gender, and henceforward in the song I am translating as she/ her)

I love you with my mindless body,
with the blue and the black of the sky.
I love you with the terror of the void.
I love you…

I love you like a girl, tenderly,
as if it were my first time.
I love you angrily and roughly,
I love you, I love you…
I love you even though I know
that it will not do me any good!

And I’m afraid,
those nights when I do not sleep,
that one day,
maybe I’ll no longer be thinking of you.

I love you in the way that I can,
with the thirst with which I drink water.
I love you with all that I have and that I wear.
I love you, I love you…
I love you even though I know
that it will not do me any good!

And I’m afraid,
those nights when I do not sleep,
that one day,
maybe I’ll no longer be thinking of you.

And I’m afraid,
whenever you are sleeping next to me,
that one day,
maybe you’ll no longer be thinking of me.

I love you with my mindless body,
with the blue and the black of the sky.
I love you with the terror of the void.
I love you, I love you…
I love you even though I know
that it will not do me any good!

There are times when, without any reason,
something deep in the body celebrates
and you see the light again
as if you had been blind for years.
And a warm wind
loaded with jasmine flowers blows, threatening rain.

There are times when I don’t know why
some part becomes night and grieves
and no one will do
and as you are looking around to find
a bit of white to hold onto
jasmine in the darkness
like a star lights up.
My white jasmine flower
don’t become night.

There are times when, without any reason,
inside me trembles a voice
which reminds me of moments
from my past lives
and a warm wind
loaded with jasmine flowers blows, threatening rain.
My white jasmine flower, don’t become night.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Summertime in Prague
when blood was warm, when blood was young
After all those tears
after all those years
I long for…

Summertime in Prague
we were so rich without a dime
when I was your queen
and you were my king
without a palace

We would sleep in cheap hotels
and wake up from the sound
of bells on Sundays
We would only drink cheap wine
but I was yours and you were mine

Summertime in Prague
I was a fool I could not see
that you were ment to be
the only one for me
now I long for…

We would sleep in cheap hotels
and wake up from the sound
of bells on Sundays
We would only drink cheap wine
but I was yours and ou were mine

Summertime in Prague
when blood was warm, when blood was young
After all those tears
after all those years
I long for…

Great harm of eros
you convulse human beings
With bloody labors
those who love forget
With bloody labors
those who love mourn
for their whole lives

Ach my Lady* I beg you
your arrow which is of gold
- pity me and never
aim for my soul
With the painted point
dipped in longing
May it be blessed
the prudence of the gods
- which keeps me
him whom I love let me not hurt him
Oh you banishing spell of hidden love affairs
from the ash of virgin lovers
protect me, that I never feel eros

I know it well, don’t tell me, I saw you
you have no city nor homeland
- you have no friend to heal you
to bend over you with caring attention in your sadness

And if the Curse catches-
may he suffer such harm
he who does not stand by my side with love

(translation: Eva Johanos
*Lady- supplication to Aphrodite)

It was what you’d call the height of summer
And the road in a transparent sky
In my embrace was what was most precious
And the world was just a small pebble

And you tell me to forget myself
To erase August from the months
But even if I am at war with my memories
They still take me back again to August

It burned, his breath on my body
And I shone like a sun in space
He left and I entered into my winter
And I became frozen, like a far away star

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Έκαιγε η ανάσα του στο σώμα μου
Κι έφεγγα σαν ήλιος στο κενό
έφυγε και μπήκα στο χειμώνα μου
Και πάγωσα σαν άστρο μακρινό

Μη λες πολλά
Παρ’τη ζωή μου για δική σου
Κι όπως παλιά
Για μας μονάχα ας μιλάει η καρδιά

There was on earth a seashore,
only with the naked eyes will you see it.
With the naked sunglasses
a seashore, on her, we.

And it was a joy, a crazy joy
for us. In so much nakedness
not one feeling of guilt,
only naked, one crazy joy.

Somewhere on the other side of the earth
I walked on the edge of a line.
it was I with sand and water
with an open wing for you to hide yourself.

And it was a joy, a crazy joy
for us. In so much nakedness
not one feeling of guilt,
only naked, one crazy joy.

Thus naked we were,
if you say a lie, it will happen again

(translation: Eva Johanos)