Arletta / Αρλέτα

Now as you are going abroad
I will become a bird of the south
quickly to meet you.
So that I can bring you the cross
you asked me to find
and to give you a ring.

You were a cypress tree in the courtyard, my beloved
who will give to me the kiss that I am waiting for
On the beautiful seashore I watch for you to come again
like a small joyful bird. (twice)

My golden love be well
may the Holy Mother be with you
and when the dove will come.

I will have hung, as a talisman
in the open window
my heart like a star.

You were a cypress tree in the courtyard, my beloved
who will give to me the kiss that I am waiting for
On the beautiful seashore I watch for you to come again
like a small joyful bird. (twice)

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Ήσουν κυπαρίσσι στην αυλή μου αγαπημένο
ποιος θα μου χαρίσει το φιλί που περιμένω.
Στ’ όμορφο ακρογιάλι καρτερώ να μου ρθεις πάλι
σαν μικρό χαρούμενο πουλί.(δις)

The sea is deep,
and love is big
I have a pain in my soul
and who will remove it

The sea is sweet,
a caress together with a teardrop
and it rolls me foaming
to the end of the horizon

The sea is a child,
he runs and I cannot reach him
a child in his love also
which like a child I lose

Το πέλαγο είναι παιδί,
τρέχει και δεν το φτάνω
παιδί και στην αγάπη του,
που σαν παιδί το χάνω.

You would walk-in and the house would light up
like a fully opened clover
and you kept the light of the evening star
in your eyes, as a charm

You placed on the table
milk and honey and bread
and I watched the dream play
on the open sea of your body

I thank you, I thank you
you were a child like Christ

Wave and pebble and saltiness
and warm summer of mine
not even one teardrop of yours did I take
to bathe myself in the bitter cold

I thank you, I thank you
you were a child like Christ

Σ’ ευχαριστώ, σ’ευχαριστώ
ήσουν παιδί σαν τον Χριστό

Call out for me, love, call out for me….
in the nighttime house, so your voice will be heard
before I am lost in the night
in the saddened gardens you are rising
Call out for me, love, call out for me

Hold me, love, hold me….
don’t leave me so many nights alone
in the old plane-trees and the laurels
the evening doesn’t stay awake any longer
Hold me, love, hold me….

Call out for me, love, call out for me….
in the nighttime house, so your voice will be heard
before I am lost in the night
in the saddened gardens you are rising
Call out for me, love, call out for me

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Κράτησέ με, αγάπη, κράτησέ με…
μη μ’ αφήνεις τόσες νύχτες μόνη
στα γέρικα πλατάνια και στις δάφνες
το βράδυ πια δεν αγρυπνά
Κράτησέ με, αγάπη, κράτησέ με

And if you should be born at some moment
Some other in which I will not exist
Don’t be afraid
And you will find me either as a star
When you walk alone in the frozen night
Or as the glance of a child who will pass by you
Or in the flame of a candle you will be holding
As you cross through the dark forest

Because high in the sky where the stars live
Are gathering all the poets
And the lovers silent smoke green leaves
They chew gold dust leap over rivers
And wait
For the constellations to become fewer and almost faint
To fall into your sleep
To become a sigh at the corner of your lips
To wake you and for you to see from your window
My face lit up
Making the shape of a constellation
Smiling at you
And whispering to you
Goodnight

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Γιατί ψηλά στον ουρανό που κατοικούνε τ΄ άστρα
μαζεύονται όλοι οι ποιητές
και οι εραστές καπνίζουν σιωπηλοί πράσινα φύλλα,
μασάν χρυσόσκονη, πηδάνε τα ποτάμια
και περιμένουν
να λιγωθούν οι αστερισμοί και να λιγοθυμήσουν,
να πέσουν μεσ΄ στον ύπνο σου,
να γίνουν αναστεναγμός στην άκρη των χειλιών σου,
να σε ξυπνήσουν και να δεις απ΄ το παραθυρό σου
το προσωπό μου φωτεινό
να σχηματίζει αστερισμό,
να σου χαμογελάει
και να σου ψιθυρίζει
καληνύχτα…

Even if you go away
to travel all around the world
you will always be mine
and together we will always be

And I won’t miss you
cause my soul will be
the song of the desert
that will follow you

The quiet evenings,
Athens will light
like a big ship
where you will also be.

And you won’t miss me
cause my soul will be
the song of the desert
that will follow you

The quiet evenings,
the train of my life
will pass full of lights
where you will also be.

And you won’t miss me
cause my soul will be
the song of the desert
that will follow you

Και δε θα σου λείπω
γιατί θα ‘ναι η ψυχή μου
το τραγούδι της ερήμου
που θα σ’ ακολουθεί

The fog enters the house from all directions
and as much as you have hoped for, for yourself
now they have all burnt out
the fog enters the house from all directions.

A shadow it was, whatever was loved for life
the dry sound of an empty word
as if the time had come for you to choose
you said let other breasts block the fire.

A river which has remained dry, the bed
how have you gone out of your way
you deserved to live differently
the fog enters the house from all directions.
The fog enters the house from all directions

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Rainy night; empty, the hand
searches to find you, but it does not know
where will it find you

Once, I remember, you loved me, now rain
once, I remember, you spoke to me, now silence

The voice froze and how to weep
For you have left and they have been set alight,
a thousand sorrows

Once, I remember, you loved me, now rain
once, I remember, you spoke to me, now silence

The morning will come and it will go
it will remember me, it will forget me
like you

Once, I remember, you loved me, now rain
once, I remember, you spoke to me, now silence