Pantelis Thalassinos

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I ‘ve never seen

He throws the net to catch fish. he catches birds,
he sets a boat on the ground, a garden in the water,
he cries, kisses the dirt, goes to live abroad,
lives on the five roads, he becomes a man

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I ‘ve never seen

He goes to take a stone, he throws it away
he goes to carve it, he makes miracles
he takes a little boat, he reaches the oceans
he seeks uprising, he seeks tyrants

A beautiful and strange country
like the one that luck gave me, I ‘ve never seen

Όμορφη και παράξενη πατρίδα
ω σαν αυτή που μου ‘λαχε δεν είδα

And here we are and the journeys
have remained no more than dreams
And here we are and the voices
and the songs have fallen silent

And here we are and life
is flowing faster now
And here we are and the children
and the games are lost

It’s not my fault that I grow older
time hits you in the back
It’s not my fault if I grow older
it’s life’s fault for being so short

The moons have cracked
the ones that spring had brought
The light has withered
in the last nightfall

Erotic face-paint
for tomorrow to wear
on the squares of the rain
for sale on Saturday

Φτιασίδι ερωτικό
που θα φοράει το αύριο
Στις πιάτσες της βροχής
που θα πουλιέται Σάββατο

Do love the mountains and the seas, do,
the familiar places and the unknown,
the birds, the flowers, the clouds,
and do love the people very much, do.

Do love the wild animals and the fierce ones,
the islands, the rivers, the stars, do.
And if ever they wound you in the heart,
friends, bad nights, white doves,

love them, do, forget, find joy
in your own peace and in all things
that light our mind with love
and sprout lilies that never fade.

ν’ αγαπάς, να ξεχνάς και να χαίρεσαι
τη δική σου γαλήνη και κείνα
που μ’ αγάπη το νου μας φωτίζουνε,
και βλασταίνουν αμάραντα κρίνα.

Σαν θα περνάς την πόρτα τζη
φεγγάρι μου θυμήσου
πόσες βραδιές περάσαμε
αυτή κι εγώ μαζί σου
πόσες βραδιές περάσαμε
αυτή κι εγώ μαζί σου.

There are times, god as my witness
That I need you so
that I cry
seas and open seas

Send me a letter,a single syllable
If you believe in god!
for I hang from your lips
and I am at your mercy

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

My thoughts have been locked
in the cellars of my mind
oh! I want to tell you so many things
but there are no words left for me to speak

Curse you, you have no sympathy for me
that I am burning and melting away
for you have made me love you
and now I wither away

Ανάθεμά σε δε με λυπάσαι
που καίγομαι και λιώνω
που μ’ έκανες και σ’ αγαπώ
και τώρα μαραζώνω

August is the song of Nikola
and some night in life in which you have it all
an embrace and a small portable radio
playing Malamas, Peridis and Lidakis*

August is also the sonata of Ritsos**
but it can also be a chocolate ice cream cone
this sumptuous feast of the moonlight
you fool yourself into believing in immortality…

August is the reverie of the man from Skiathos
and the memories of the light of the one on Panormos
the flame of a candle in a humble place of worship
with the sword of the archangel in its sheath***

August is also the second moon
before September manages in time to take it
five or six verses that you love and remember
you are also the one who stays awake even while you sleep

(translation: Eva Johanos)
*- popular Greek singers (see their pages!)
**- Yiannis Ritsos, beloved poet who wrote a famous poem referred to here
***- the Archangel Michael, symbolizing death, here is not threatening

Αύγουστος είναι και το δεύτερο φεγγάρι
προτού προλάβει ο Σεπτέμβρης να το πάρει
πέντε-έξι στίχοι που αγαπάς και τους θυμάσαι
είσαι κι εσύ που ξαγρυπνάς κι όταν κοιμάσαι

A dream which leaves is life,
inside my dream you are also existing.

You come always at night
melancholic
like the last train in winter,
my heart the snowy barren steppe
watches and waits for your sorrow.

You come and you are not silent,
in the ashes
you search for a fire and you are always leaving
you wander about in the night
pale ghost of my waiting
blackbird of the wasteland.

A dream which leaves is life,
inside my dream you are also existing.

And as you come you leave
so unexpectedly you love
you hate you forget delusions you gather
and my heart the snowy
barren steppe lies waiting
and watching always for your sorrow.

A dream which leaves is life,
inside my dream you are also existing.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Όνειρο που φεύγει είν’ η ζωή,
μέσα στ’ όνειρό μου είσαι κι εσύ.

Your little mirror is old
and behind the dull surface
lies Smyrna with the Kordelio quarter
and Greece-that-used-to-be

The glass is tarnished
but behind it’s cloudiness
God can see Aivali
and his mind stands still

The songs from Smyrna
who taught them to you,
to sing them and cry,
you flowerbud of my heart

Your little mirror is old
and your mind is wandering
in what bar did have you been drinking
till you came out sozzled?

The glass is tarnished
but behind it’s cloudiness
God can see Aivali
and his mind stands still

The songs from Smyrna
who taught them to you,
to sing them and cry,
you flowerbud of my heart

Τα σμυρνέικα τραγούδια
ποιος σου τα ‘μαθε
να τα λες και να δακρύζεις
της καρδιάς μου ανθέ

Όμως τι κρίμα, που δε μάγεψα κι εσένα,
τι κρίμα που δεν άγγιξα της τρέλας σου το αγρίμι,
κι έγινε η αγάπη, η αγάπη, ένα συντρίμμι,
σημάδι που χαράχτηκε στην πιο βαθιά μου μνήμη.

You are the one I was looking for
the one I yearned after for years
In your arms I wish
I could live for forever

Blind hopes flooded me
– from the moment you saw me –
that we might be together
I abandoned myself to the way you looked at me
I believed your words
I fell into the fire

It was so light-headed the way I behaved to you
I hurried to spread wide
all the secrets of my heart

Blind hopes flooded me
– from the moment you saw me –
that we might be together
I abandoned myself to the way you looked at me
I believed your words
I fell into the fire

Με πλημμύρισαν τυφλές ελπίδες
από κείνη τη στιγμή που μ’ είδες
πως θα είμαστε μαζί
Παραδόθηκα στο κοίταγμά σου
πίστεψα στα λόγια τα δικά σου
έπεσα μες στη φωτιά