Vassilis Papakonstantinou / Βασίλης Παπακωνσταντίνου

Have a cigarette, let me tell you something
Pour another drink, what is your hurry?
Tonight everything may be turned upside down
And everything you know disappear; where are you preparing to go?

Stay for a little and your house is not leaving
And as many as are waiting for you, they will go to sleep
This night is not like the others
Until the morning, everything might happen

Smoke a cigarette; maybe we will never see each other again
It is by chance that we stayed here
You know that roles are easier at night
Don’t leave a little before I play God for you

Forget tonight your work, how you will wake up
Don’t you feel it, that something will happen here?
Don’t you smell the fire outside in the street?
If you leave now, who will have remained for me?

Sit for a bit, what does it mean that you are in pieces?
Tonight life may be played
I saw it happen before, don’t you believe me?
We were all flying in the bar

(translation: Eva Johanos)

The member of parliament came to the village, outings here and there
He passes out promises to the farmers,
We will save you from misfortune,
we will bring water we will build schools
and as far as for your impoverished girls we will find husbands.

To your health and joy, my countrymen
and my own grandfathers were farmers, hello.

The member of parliament came to the village, outings here and there
He passes out promises to the farmers,
There will be an increase in the cost of your products,
there will also be an increase in the pensions of the old people,
we will build hospitals the elections are drawing near.

To your health and joy, my countrymen
and my own grandfathers were farmers, hello.

The member of parliament got into the parliament, outings here and there
he was enthroned like a turkey* in Athens
and you will not have seen our handsome friend
pass through our village, not even for a feast
and everything he promised us were hares wearing petrachilia.**

To your health and joy, my countrymen
and my own grandfathers were farmers, hello.

[*turkey- meaning that he was puffed up, proud of himself

**hares wearing petrachilia- petrachilia are gaudy ornaments worn by priests around the neck; false promises

translation: Eva Johanos]

Γεια και χαρά σας βρε πατριώτες
και εμέ οι παππούδες μου ήταν αγρότες γεια σας. (δις)

An old boat, a floating coffin
with some sailors, mad pirates
raises anchor at wild daybreak
there are empty places, if you want [one]

When the night will fall, as you say,
on the deck a thousand small lights will be lit
in our company the wind will come
to whistle to us songs of old

So let’s untie the ropes, let’s begin
and I got bored of them and I can’t stand them
let’s stay up late into the night and get drunk
to forget all of them here

An old boat, a floating coffin
unties its tows and sets sail
it leaves things behind askew and absurd
it raises anchor for far away

We will see dawn arrive on the sea
the sun will come out to dive in
the parrot will say “we escaped from them”
and we will be searching for other lands

So let’s untie, let’s begin …

An old boat, a floating coffin
with some sailors, mad pirates
raises anchor at wild daybreak
there are empty places, if you want [one]

So let’s untie, let’s begin …

Άντε να λύσουμε, να ξεκινήσουμε…

I will never make you cook
I’ll be near you only when you seek me
then I’ll be leaving again so you can miss me.
I will not hold a black briefcase to my desk
I will have an eagle feather as my emblem
in the legion of the highest honor.

Artemis, goddess of the girls
frighten me again with your silver bow.
From the false victories of men
and from the sorrow they have, keep me away.

I don’t have you next to me so I can have reasons to be jealous.
Throw your veils in the forests where I dance
so I can worship you all night, like a guard.
With my dirty leather boots
I have broken inside me both idols and doors
so I can hug you like the soil, clean.

Artemis, goddess of the girls…

Άρτεμις θεά των κοριτσιών…

A river I hunt, and my wings I open-
With the wind I will fly, and with the water I will leave
It does not hold me, that you love me; I have
a mountain to ascend
you are not the one who conquers me: I wrestle
with my self

Without a mate is the sky, the peaks do not live together
and our journeys into the light we make alone
Don’t ask me to come down; don’t run to reach me
I will make a round and come a little before you forget me

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Δεν έχει ταίρι ο ουρανός δεν ζουν μαζί οι βράχοι
και τα ταξίδια μας στο φως τα κάνουμε μονάχοι
Μη μου ζητάς να κατεβώ μην τρέξεις να με φτάσεις
κάνω ένα γύρω και θα ρθω λίγο πριν με ξεχάσεις.

I need one word from you
a truth into the self-deceits
and a hug to heal me
from fatal loves
I need to sink
into your deepest look
to quail at the truth
and to wreck myself on a lie.

I need to show you
that I am now your fan
with my palm to touch
the fever on your forehead
I need to feel you
like a personal victory
with many nights to pay
the loneliness that belongs to me

A cold September’s night
a crippled night
only your eyes I remember
two flames into the dark
A cold September’s night
which as I remember pains me
so many years have passed
but this love doesn’t go away

Tonight I won’t go out to the streets
In my dreams I’ll look for you
that you never left
I need to shout
Inside whoever’s arms you are sleeping
I’ll wake up with you
your sweetest absence
I need to love

And thus forever I’ll sail
on the back of your wind
As if you were an oath I’ll take you
which I would never break.

Κι έτσι για πάντα θα σαλπάρω
στην πλάτη του δικού σου ανέμου
σαν νά’ σουν όρκος θα σε πάρω
που δε θα πάταγα ποτέ μου

I follow you, into your pocket I slip
like a two-drachma coin so small
I follow you and I know that I fit
inside the hollow at the base of your throat

Come, hold me tight and take a walk with me,
into your magical depths
take me with you into your deep kiss
don’t leave me alone, I will be lost

I follow you, I stick to you
like a light summer shirt;
I follow you, I touch you and I feel pain,
I close my eyes and I follow you

Σ’ ακολουθώ και πάνω σου κολλάω
σαν φανελάκι καλοκαιρινό
Σ’ ακολουθώ σ’ αγγίζω και πονάω
κλείνω τα μάτια και σ’ ακολουθώ

To the lady, our mother, don’t give assistance
not even a walking-stick near her pillow
because she will use it to beat her children every day
and when I speak she will call me a tramp
and if she beats her children whenever she feels like it
we will end up as servile merchants
youth is lost in the dirty little streets
so that they can measure the earth with their ‘boy’

Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
stop governing me
Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
stop tyrannizing me

And if I want now for your voice to be heard
I am caught by the fear of long shadows
your companionship in my life is like gold
and your beauty heals my sorrows
you, uncle, sit and tell us a story
how our mother used to be, back then, long ago
did you get a beating when there was trouble
or did she sing you lullabies, with caresses and kisses?

Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
you break my heart
Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
you wound my joy

And the uncle sobered up a little then
scratched his head and ordered a coffee
mother he said was a little girl
who, orphaned, gathered flowers in a garden
the flowers adorned her haughty head
but when she slept they fell once again to the earth
and from the flowers that Death (Charos) threw
she held me, that I might see life

Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
you have devoured my soul
Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
we will find ourselves friends all together

Such a one, children, was your mother then
the garden afterwards filled up with thieves
our little girl they dressed as a little old woman
and through the rags her wounds could be seen
and if she hits us with rage and yells
others with a lot of means put her up to it
the dream which is leaving frightens her
into searching for a lost freedom

Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
in the furnace of the fire
Lengho, Lengho, Lengho
tell us once again what you are seeking

(translation: Eva Johanos)

It kisses my eyes, the light- new day
And a sun like a magnet pulls me
Hold my hand that I don’t float off in the air
Tell me that if I stay everything will be alright

A trip to the seashore and a coffee in the center
A Full day with everything that life could pack in
I lie down beside you naked, a fallen tree
Give me breaths so that I may make it until the morning

Let’s go wherever you want, only backwards I will not go
Nostalgia is a stone on the neck
What I forget, holds me and I continue
I am not a leaf, I am the same water

Joy eats pieces of sorrow
In backlighting, the body becomes a shadow
In your hands what you have and what is missing
Fear and hope of the same material

(translation: Eva Johanos)

You faked screams
You laughed and pretended to cry
and I was a child, ah, Mama.

You ran after me my whole life,
with a plate and a blessing
then you held onto me tight,
now you look from far off.

Speaking through your teeth, I can still hear you
“Don’t piss me off”
“No one will be able to stand you”
“You will come to nothing, you’ll see”… ah, Mama…

Later words on the paper
“I’m sorry, I love you very much”
“I am here”- ah, Mama.

You drew a heart as well,
You won me over with your clever ways
and always put on the stereo
the record with the “Ave Maria, Ave Maria”…

You lost yourself in music,
You became the child
And I an angel on the earth
taking care of you my whole life.

You opened the doors to the light, for the sun and for God to enter
to protect us, ah, Mama.

In the evenings you were an embrace and among the kisses
you made the voice of the rabbit, the wolf and the fox.

And when I came back late
“I will take your keys away”
“You’ll find the doors locked from now on”
“You will kill me, is that what you want?”
Ah, Mama.

Mama, where are you going…

(translation: Eva Johanos)