Mario Frangoulis

The swallow is but one single swallow, and the cost of Spring is dear
For the sun to return, much work is wanted
It wants thousands dying at the Wheels
it wants the living, too, to give their blood.

My God, master builder, you walled me inside the mountains
My God, master builder, you walled me inside the mountains

The body of the May was taken away by Mages
they have buried it inside a tomb of the open sea
in a deep well they have it locked away
the darkness grew fragrant, and the whole abyss.

My God, master builder, even inside the lilac bloom Thou art there
My God, master builder, even inside the lilac bloom Thou art there

Θε μου Πρωτομάστορα μέσα στις πασχαλιές και Συ
Θε μου Πρωτομάστορα μύρισες την Ανάσταση

(in English)
All alone am I
ever since your goodbye
all alone, with just the beat of my heart
People all around, but I don’t hear a sound
just the lonely beating of my heart

(in Greek)
Absorbed in talking we lost touch with time
possessed by grief, we were overtaken by night
Extinguish the tears with your handkerchief,
so may i drink the sun from your lips.

Don’t ask the sky,
the cloud, the moon;
your dark gaze
has taken something from the night.

What came upon us and saddened us
cunningly struck us like a knife.
Extinguish the tears with a handkerchief,
so I may drink the sun from your lips.

Don’t ask the sky,
the cloud, the moon;
your dark gaze
has taken something from the night.

Μην τον ρωτάς τον ουρανό
το σύννεφο και το φεγγάρι
το βλέμμα σου το σκοτεινό
κάτι απ’ τη νύχτα έχει πάρει

Oh wide sea
I love you because you resemble, to me
a deep sea
you don’t calm down a single moment
as if you have a heart
my own small heart

Crazy dreams
that fly on the wave
they reach the heart
and wake up our youth
crazy deams
and passions flutter like birds

I have a desire
that devours me and melts me
I have a desire I will come to say it to you
oh my sister you sea that I love

Waves birds
in the journeys you go
the distant ones
take my hidden grief
from there far away
and bring joy to me too

Κύματα πουλιά
στα ταξίδια σας που πάτε
τα αλαργινά
την κρυφή μου λύπη πάρτε
κι απο ‘κει μακριά
να μου φέρετε κι εμένα τη χαρά

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.

Once upon a time,
As fairy tales begin,
I pursued a dream
To learn the truth.

Is she a sun? Is she a star?
Who’s seen her? Who knows her?
Why, oh why
Is she like an unopened heart?

Once upon a time,
An angel wayfarer
Wrote her name
On a radiant beach.

But when the wind blew
Who was to see her?
Who was to know her?
why, oh way,
Is she like a dead spark?

Once upon a time,
In the fire and in the struggle,
I think I saw her
As a red drop.

But before summer was over,
Who was to see her?
Who was to know her?
Why, oh why,
Has she been forgotten in life?

Μα πριν βγει το καλοκαίρι
ποιος την είδε ποιος την ξέρει.
Αχ γιατί, αχ γιατί
να ‘χει στη ζωή ξεχαστεί.

I see a crowd of people rolling by,
But not a soul is smiling at me
I see sick children on their beds
And withered branches on the trees.

I’ve cast love into a deep place
And spread my bed to sleep with fear
I keep finding graves and a world
Which feels no pain
Whenever I may go another mistake
Torments me.

Which prophet will be heard now
Like a voice inside a closed cistern?
In an empty orphaned world
What howl will echo from the sky?

I’ve abandoned birds in the wilderness
And squandered light in the neighborhoods
I loathe and fear
The return
See who I am on the way
For my own loss.

Τα πουλιά παράτησα στις ερημιές
και το φως σπατάλησα στις γειτονιές
Δεν τον θέλω και φοβάμαι
το γυρισμό.
Δες ποιος είμαι πού πηγαίνω
για το χαμό.