RITSOS, Yiannis

Whenever You Stood Near The Window

Whenever you stood near the window, your brawny shoulder-blades
filled up the whole entranceway, the sea and the fishermen's boats

The house overflowed with your shadow, tall as an archangel,
and the bright bud of the evening-star sparkled up there in your ear.

Our window was the gateway for all the world, leading out
towards paradise, my dear night, where the stars were all in bloom.

As you stood there with your gaze fixed on the glimmering sunset,
you looked like a helmsman steering a ship, which was your own room.

ln the warm blue twilight of evening - ahoy, away -
you sailed me straight into the stillness of the milky way
.
But now this ship has foundered, its rudder has broken down,
and down in the depths of the ocean, I'm drifting all alone.

Where Did My Boy Fly Away

Son, my flesh and blood. marrow of my bones, heart of my own heart,
sparrow of my tiny courtyard, flower of my loneliness.

Where did my boy fly away? Where's he gone? Where's he leaving me?
The bird-cage is empty now, not a drop of water in the fonnt.

What ever made your dear eyes close and you are blind to my tears?
How are yon frozen in yonr tracks and deàf to my bitter words?

A Little Naivety

Mild days with many trees.

This gentle breeze around your lips goes well on you.

This flower you are gazing at goes well on you.

So, the sea, the tilting sun and this boat,

which glides along the dusky rosefield

carrying as sole passenger a girl with a sorrowful guitar

are not a lie.

Please let me be the one to pull the oars,

as if I' d pull two purple beams sung into oblivion.