Rita Antonopoulou / Ρίτα Αντωνοπούλου

I saw your loneliness and I was scared
in your dark look I remembered
my past life
how you scared me

And one morning your touch
came as an awakening
but by the time night fell
it had become a dilemma
in my measured life
how you scared me

Inside my body’s
mad abandonment
I saw the work of my life
repeated
And I decided to run and hide
and now that it has started
the count down
I start counting myself
and want you to go first
and take the fire with you
so I won’t remember anymore

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Μες του κορμιού μου
την τρελή την εγκατάλειψη
είδα το έργο της ζωής μου
σ΄επανάληψη
Κι είπα να τρέξω να κρυφτώ
και τώρα που αρχίζει
η αντίστροφη μέτρηση
αρχίζω να μετράω εγώ
και φύγε πρώτα εσύ
πάρε και τη φωτιά μαζί
Να μην θυμάμαι πια

Fascism does not come from the future
as if it brings us something new.
What it hides in its teeth I know,
as it gives me, smilingly, its hand.

Its roots embrace the system
and lose themselves deep in the past.
Its masks over time change
but not its hatred for me.

Fascism- understand it deeply.
It will not die by itself- smash it!

Fascism does not come from a place
where it bathes itself in air and sunlight;
its tired footstep I recognize
and it knows our superabundance of youth.

But once again it wants to spread like cholera
stepping on your carelessness,
and it will manage to sit next to you one day
if you lose your perception of the game.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

“Those who snatch the food from the table
announce frugality.
Those who receive all the installments
ask for sacrifices.
Those who have eaten their fill speak to the hungry
about the great times to come.
Those who drag the country into the abyss
say that the art of governing the people
is very difficult for the human beings of the people.”

(translation: Eva Johanos)