Stamatis Hatzievstathiou / Σταμάτης Χατζηευσταθίου

Say that I saw something shining
Say that I was guided by a flash of lightning
And everything around me has changed
And from the end I return to the beginning
Say that I was guided by a flash of lightning

Wherever you go, remember
As long as the sky exists, fly
As long as life exists, do not be afraid
You will have a reason to start out again
As long as the sky exists in which to fly

When my courage is leaving me
I remember you smiling
This smile becomes a lighthouse
And you guide my boat
I remember you smiling

Wherever you go, remember
As long as the sky exists, fly
As long as life exists, do not be afraid
You will have a reason to start out again
As long as the sky exists in which to fly

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Όπου κι αν πας να θυμάσαι
Όσο υπάρχει ουρανός να πετάς
Όσο υπάρχει ζωή μη φοβάσαι
Θα `χεις λόγο για να ξεκινάς
Όσο υπάρχει ουρανός να πετάς

I want in the evening, when it comes
to find my other self
and to tell him, “I want peace.”
And the raging river
to find itself in my sea,
to unite, to find the calm…

Black glasses, when I wear them
for it not to mean loss
for it to be joy from nowhere,
for it to be air…
To not jump from cliffs,
to not believe in oracles,
to not be afraid when I wake up in the morning.
For light to enter the crack
and for it to catch ahold of me to my soul
and for me to say to myself out loud
“see me, I am laughing.”

I want the morning to come in
and the first ray to find us
in an embrace in the sheets.
For us to be friends, and not enemies
and with one divine breath
to live together eternally…

Black glasses, when I wear them
for it not to mean loss
for it to be joy from nowhere,
for it to be air…
To not jump from cliffs,
to not believe in oracles,
to not be afraid when I wake up in the morning.
For light to enter the crack
and for it to catch ahold of me to my soul
and for me to say to myself out loud
“see me, I am laughing.”

(translation: Eva Johanos)

I got hushed in the sea
and not even a tear of mine glimmered
I saw them choose me,
piling me on the side

I wore all of my fears
and my people without hope
and I saw my floods
like the front page of the news

I disappeared in what is easy
even though everything shouted, “Look at the sun!”
I bent but my apology
was not even heard in the night

They flashed with a smile,
the panoply of stones and dreams;
I shone light, in the blackness I shone light;
on the road history is written.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

I will remain
at three in the morning, on the cellphone
“time has passed, I’m hanging up.”
I will remain
in some good mornings
hooked on the refrigerator
that I may drink your laughter.
I will remain.

I will remain
in that message that said
“far away from you I am a candle and I go out.”
I will remain
that not even a minute will be lost
of the last “I love you”
what I have to give you.
I will remain.

And don’t look at smiles
and don’t look at shows of courage.
Those who stay behind
struggle in the evenings.

And don’t look at who won,
where the ships went;
Love has no loot.
Love has no rocks.

I will remain
before the ferryboat in Piraeus
to take your hand.
I will flicker
and again to learn how you laugh
and I am somewhere else
to soothe wounds.
There I will be extinguished.

There I will remain
On the corner of Trikoupis and Arahovas on the right
for you to bring the CDs you owe
and for me to still want to give to you.
I will remain
in the first glance
that went straight to the heart
and everything went up in flames.
There I will remain.

And don’t look at smiles
and don’t look at shows of courage.
Those who stay behind
struggle in the evenings.

And don’t look at who won,
where the ships went;
Love has no loot.
Love has no rocks.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

“Step aside, rock, and let me through,” the gallant wave
says to the stone of the shore, dark and bruised.
“Step aside! In my breast, which was dead and cold,
the black north wind has made a nest, and a black tempest.

Seafoam do I not have for chariots, a hollow roar for the tumult,
I have a river of blood, inside the curse has festered
of the world which has had enough, of the world who said now
rock, you will fall; your terrible time has come.

Bend down to see your root in the the depths of the sea;
I have devoured your foundations; I made you hollow stone.
Step aside, rock, and let me through! The foot of the slave
will step on your neck . . . I have awoken as a lion! . . .”

When I came quietly, timid, beaten down,
and licked and washed your feet, enslaved,
you proudly watched me, and called the world
to see the scorn that my foam suffered. . .

Bend down to see your root in the the depths of the sea;
I have devoured your foundations; I made you hollow stone.
Step aside, rock, and let me through! The foot of the slave
will step on your neck . . . I have awoken as a lion! . . .”

(translation: Eva Johanos)
[From an exciting celebration of Greece through great poetry and music!!! Celebrating 200 years since the War of 1821 and Greek Independence . . . so powerful, this message, still!]