Stavros Xarhakos

Άντρα και γείτονα και φίλε
στη φτώχεια και στην προσφυγιά
μια παγωμένη σπίθα στείλε
να σου την κάνω πυρκαγιά
Κι αν δεν καείς έλα κατόπι
που δε θα μείνει πια κανείς
για να γίνουμε πάλι ανθρώποι
στο κήπο της Γεθσημανής

I have no house to come back
Or bed to sleep
I have no street or neighbourhood
To have a walk on First May

The big liar words
Were those you told me with your first milk

But not when snakes have woken up
You wear your old ornaments
And you never cry, my motherland, Greece
That you have sold your children as slaves

The big liar words
Were those you told me with your first milk

But then when I talked to your destiny
You had got dressed with your old fineries
And in the bazaar you took me like a monkey, gipsy woman
Greece, Greece, sorrow mother

The big liar words
Were those you told me with your first milk

But now that fire flares up again
You look at your old beautiesε
And on the world’s arenas, my motherland, Greece
You’re always carting the same lie

Μα τώρα που η φωτιά φουντώνει πάλι
εσύ κοιτάς τα αρχαία σου τα κάλλη
και στις αρένες του κόσμου μάνα μου Ελλάς
το ίδιο ψέμα πάντα κουβαλάς.

How could I silence within me
the sheer beauty of the world?
The skies are mine alone
the sea within my measurements

How can they force me see the sun
using different eyes?
On these solar stair steps
My mother taught me being her son

Inside the waters of the swamp
What language do they address me
those who dare to ask of me
to lower my wings to lay down?

Στου βούρκου μέσα τα νερά
ποια γλώσσα μου μιλάνε
αυτοί που μου ζητάνε
να χαμηλώσω τα φτερά;

First of May
with the clasp-knife
they carved the sky-light
and one evening
like wild beasts
they took you from your home

And one morning on a corner in Kokkinia
I saw the executioner passing and the murderer
I searched for years to find him
but he walked with Death at his side.

Now and forever
in life
I had you as my anchor
but one dawn
on the black earth
you were brought down by a bullet.

And one morning on a corner in Kokkinia
I saw the executioner, the thief and the murderer
they had tied around his neck a rope
and they were stepping on his head as if it were a snake.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Κι ένα πρωί σε μια γωνιά στην Κοκκινιά
είδα το μπόγια το ληστή και το φονιά
του ‘χανε δέσει στο λαιμό του μια τριχιά
και του πατάγαν το κεφάλι σαν οχιά.

Στην καρδιά μου έχω μαχαίρι
ματωμένη πριστέρι
πού να πάω, πού να σταθώ
Στέγνωσαν τα δυο μου χείλη
κι η βροχή νερό αν δεν στείλει
θα πεθάνω θα χαθώ

Once upon a time, my dear,
there was a beautiful lady queen.

A fair girl, married young
awaiting her lord, night and day.

And on a Saturday evening, my precious, on a Sunday
she pleads with the sun, my precious, she pleads with the moon.

My sun, shine on him, my moon
go and talk to him, for the love of me.

He wanders and sails, my precious, across the high seas
He mows down the pirates, my precious, and unmakes them.

Under the sun, the moon and the rain
And he leaves me all alone.

A galley sailed, my dear, with the north wind
and launched itself into battle, my dear, into fight.

Within a pirate trade
I saw fire burning and killing.

Μέσα σ’ ένα σινάφι πειρατικό
είδα φωτιά ν’ ανάβει και φονικό

Πέτρα την πέτρα περπατώ,
φέγγει και ξημερώνει
Γλυκό πουλί τ’ αηδόνι
τραγούδα μου τον π’ αγαπώ.

We who remained
on the hard ground
for the dead
we will burn frankincense
and when it has disappeared
far away the caravan
of Charon, the great wrestler,
to their memory we will hold a dance.

We who remained
will eat, in the morning
a slice from the round loaf of the sun,
a bunch of grapes from the arbor,
and without having the chattering of fear anymore
we will go forward, ahead in life.

We who remained
will go out one evening
to sow grass in the desert
and before for forever
the night takes us
we will make the earth a place to kneel and worship
and a cradle for the unborn children.

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Εμείς που μείναμε
θα βγούμε μια βραδιά
στην ερημιά να σπείρουμε χορτάρι
και πριν για πάντα
η νύχτα να μας πάρει
θα κάνουμε τη γη προσκυνητάρι
και κούνια για τ’ αγέννητα παιδιά.

They return, taciturn children
To this earthly garden
Like embittered clouds
Like frozen stars

Where was it that they roamed
For four summers
Where was it that they strained
Bitterness with their hands

They pass unkissed, children
And they search throughout all the North
Which cast down the seals
Like leaves of marble

Where was it that they roamed
For five or six summers
Where was it that they strained
Bitterness with their hands

(translation: Eva Johanos)

Πού ήταν πού γυρίζανε
πεντ έξι καλοκαίρια
πού ήταν και στραγγίζανε
την πίκρα με τα χέρια