Manos Hatzidakis

Lord, it is time
for you to help a soul
to find its way now
my shallow soul.

I cannot live in opposition
to you, and where I stand
with unknown rhythms and names
I seek your help.

I am an acrobat
and I am looking for my own God.

Lord, give me courage
don’t let the rope break
I want to be a beacon
which illuminates the silence.

I want to fly free
beyond the void
small and secondarily,
I don’t know how to love.

I am an acrobat
and I am looking for my own God.
I am an acrobat
and I am looking for a new God.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Είμαι ακροβάτης
και γυρεύω δικό μου Θεό.
Είμαι ακροβάτης
και γυρεύω καινούργιο Θεό.

Every garden has
a nest for the birds
Every street has
a heart for the children

but you dear lady
what can you have to tell the dawn
watching the stars
that keep falling like rain

Give to me your hair
to make into a prayer
and so start the song
all over again

Every home hides
in the silence a little love
but there is one boy
whose love is his shame

Κάθε σπίτι κρύβει
λίγη αγάπη στη σιωπή.
Μα ένα αγόρι έχει
την αγάπη για ντροπή.

You, Eros, in overabundance
when you wound our strength
neither a good name
nor virtue can come from you.

But with measured steps as she proceeds
she of Cyprus (Aphrodite),
no goddess has exquisite charm like her

O my mistress, above me
with your golden bow,
don’t let fly your eternal
arrow, whose tip
is drenched in longing.

(from the second station of Euripides’ Medea, as rendered into modern Greek by Pantelis Prevelakis;
English translation: Eva Johanos)

Από το β΄στάσιμο της Μήδειας του Ευριπίδη, σε απόδοση Παντελή Πρεβελάκη.

That morning I said “Good day” to him
That morning I said “Good day” to him.

Every crazy kid
has in his hand
a kiss from the All Holy One
and a knife.

And his mother doesn’t sing
And his mother doesn’t sing.

Every time they are slaughtered
two doves
the night burns
in his two hands.

And the girl doesn’t speak
and the girl doesn’t speak.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Και το κορίτσι δε μιλά
και το κορίτσι δε μιλά.

For twenty years you have been asking me
who took Eleni
but she alone at school
awaits Paris

For twenty years you have been asking me
who does Eleni love
is she in Sparta, on the islands
in Troy, married

They ask me about Eleni- ach Eleni
who is a tearful image- ach Eleni
but I do not answer
my heart I seal
and my bitterness I embroider

For twenty years you have been asking me
where Eleni will be found
like a painting in a church
or like a candle alight

For twenty years you have been asking me
where they buried Eleni
maybe in Argos in the fields
maybe in the universe

They ask me about Eleni- ach Eleni
who is a tearful image- ach Eleni
but I do not answer
my heart I seal
and my bitterness I embroider

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Με ρωτούν για την Ελένη – αχ Ελένη
που΄ναι εικόνα δακρυσμένη – αχ Ελένη
μα εγώ δεν απαντώ
την καρδιά μου τη σφραγίζω
και την πίκρα μου κεντώ

In the cold and in the frost
My girl is sinking
She covers a sob.

Dry north winds are loose
Three boys break the dice
The girl is crying like Christ.

Drunk,she opens a mad spring
Her mouth becomes a wound
She’s made a talisman of hate
Playing hide-and -seek with Death.

She has ribbons in her hair
A thousand leeches on her body
And by her side Charon bowing down.

From her eyes two drops fall
And from her hands other drops
Like thunder her yearning strikes.

Who gave her this knife
Which wind will bring her
Till the black sky will flash?

With the knife she cuts the silence
And she’s gloomy as a stone
She folds her hands in prayer
Who will give her a blessing?

In the cold and in the frost
My girl is frightened,dead
Though racing in the rain.

(Η συγκεκριμένη εκτέλεση είναι απο το δίσκο “Ο Οδοιπόρος ,Το Μεθυσμένο κορίτσι και Ο Ακιβιάδης” με τα τραγούδια απο την ομώνυμη μουσικοθετρική παράσταση που παρουσίασε ο Χατζιδάκης στο καφεθέτρο “Πολύτροπο” το 1973.Τα αφηγηματικά μέρη ερμήνευε η Ελένη Μανιάτη.)

Τα χέρια μου παγώσανε
τα γόνατα μου λιώσανε
όλος ο κόσμος χάθηκε
σαν χάθηκες κι εσύ.

Γίναν τα μάτια σου βαθιά
και οι θάλασσες μεγάλες
μου πήραν όλες τις χαρές
κι όμως χαρές δεν φέραν άλλες

You who have found your person
and you have a hand to squeeze you tenderly,
a shoulder on which to rest your bitterness,
a body to defend your excitement,
did you ever blush about your fortune so great,
even one time?
Did you think to observe a minute of silence
for those who are desperate?

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Εσείς που βρήκατε τον άνθρωπό σας
κι έχετε ένα χέρι να σας σφίγγει τρυφερά,
έναν ώμο ν’ ακουμπάτε την πίκρα σας,
ένα κορμί να υπερασπίζει την έξαψή σας,
κοκκινίσατε άραγε για τη τόση ευτυχία σας,
έστω και μια φορά;
Είπατε να κρατήσετε ενός λεπτού σιγή
για τους απεγνωσμένους;

Blue, χάθηκες στου βυθού μιαν άκρη
Blue, πνίγηκες σ΄ ένα δάκρυ….