Our Big Circus / Το Μεγάλο μας Τσίρκο

Friends and brothers, mothers, old folks and children,
come out to your windows and look
at who is walking in the dark and strolling in the side streets,
Friends and brothers, mothers, old folks and children.
They are writing signs, messages to the king
if you don’t cry out, come out and write it
so they will not hear you, the dogs- bring out your voice without speaking
signs and messages to the king

They were soldiers, captains and working-class people
they made an oath by the sign of the cross over their swords
that freedom would not be lost, they made an oath by the sign of the cross on the sword
captains, soldiers and working-class people.
And where he fears to hear the voice of the people,
in a deserted place he lives and reigns,
he guards a deserted castle and has fear as a talisman,
where he fears to hear the voice of the people.

Earth tormented with iron and with fire,
just look at whom they have brought you, poor thing
to lord over you from on high, your crimes are many,
Earth which iron has tormented and fire.
It is burning, the fuse, the swords have been drawn,
they are setting their intentions, the constituents, and they write
their wishes on papers and the wide sea of the world,
they are setting their intentions, the swords have been drawn.

The third of September, mothers, old folks and children,
come out to your windows and see
what they bring to the king, deeply written on the papers
the third of September, mothers, old folks and children

The third of September, mothers, old folks and children
come out to your windows and see
who is walking in the dark and strolling in the side streets,
the third of September, mothers, old folks and children.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Τρεις του Σεπτέμβρη μανάδες, γέροι και παιδιά
στα παραθύρια βγείτε και θωρείτε
ποιοι περπατούν στα σκοτεινά και σεργιανούνε στα στενά,
τρεις του Σεπτέμβρη μάνες, γέροι και παιδιά.

Big news I bring from up there
wait a drop for me to breathe
and to think about whether I should laugh,
cry, shout, or become silent.
The kings have left and gone
and in the harbor now, down on the shore,
the allies send them off for good.
As they cooked it up and fixed it
from the start they dug the hole
and from close-up our great protectors
slowly, slowly became gravediggers
and who is paying for what is broken
and how can I start again from the beginning
and if I only knew at least why.

My fate, still, what it writes for me
they study it, three machinators.
They will tell it to us, clerks and priests
with drums, parades and celebrations.
The constitution is held by guards
and in the palace the people
wait for something new to appear.
They have been decorated, the foreign bankers,
they have been shaved, the Greek go-betweens.
Seven the interest, five the cosmetics
forty with the oil and vinegar
and he who believed and kept watch,
dumbstruck, drugged stands and sees
freedom being auctioned away.

People, don’t tighten your belts any farther,
don’t pride yourselves on hunger any more.
The battles you have waged will not have merit
if they do not pay for the blood that has been spilled.
People, don’t tighten your belts any farther,
hunger as pride belongs to the coward,
to the slave whose future is to be buried.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Λαέ μη σφίξεις άλλο το ζωνάρι,
μην έχεις πια την πείνα για καμάρι.
Οι αγώνες πούχεις κάνει δεν φελάνε
το αίμα το χυμένο αν δεν ξοφλάνε.
Λαέ μη σφίξεις άλλο το ζωνάρι,
η πείνα το καμάρι είναι του κιοτή,
του σκλάβου που του μέλλει να θαφτεί.