Wheat Ears-Selected Poems

Hephaestus

Hephaestus laughed at my demand

for a new armour as

I reverted into my inheritance

          subject of a former sound

          another era’s reward

I the indisputable heir

of the Aegean Sea

truly nothing else

          was as abstract

          as the lips of the virgin which

          I kissed under the sun’s guidance

          when without warning

          spring arrived as pure as

the indiscreet announcement

of deeds I was destined

          to accomplish:

          a cross to hang

          around my neck

the lone sea anemone to lean on

and catching the meaning of duty

         I had to be worthy of:

         sea urchins

         with spikes,

         rose bushes

by the main entrance of my dwelling

beloved words spoken

by lips cracked and aged like

         the lemon tree I never watered

         tears on my pillow which

         I held tightly

in my arms hoping

to wake up like a laughter of sunshine

in the cows’ watering trough

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George Seferis – Collected Poems

MYTHISTOREMA

I

The angel,

we had waited for him for three years, concentrated

       closely examining

the pines, the seashore, the stars.

Joining the blade of the plough or the ship’s keel

once again we searched to discover the first sperm

so that the ancient drama might recommence.

We went back to our homes broken-hearted

with incapable limbs, with mouths ravaged

         by the taste of rust and salinity.

When we woke, we travelled to the north, strangers

driven into the mist by the perfect wings

of swans that wounded us.

During winter nights the strong eastern wind

         maddened us

in the summers we got lost in the agony of day

         that couldn’t die.

We brought back

these petroglyphs of a humble art.

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C. P. Cavafy – Poems

ΙΘΑΚΗ

Σα βγείς στόν πηγαιμό γιά τήν Ιθάκη,

νά εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος,

γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις.

Τούς Λαιστρυγόνας καί τούς Κύκλωπας,

τόν θυμωμένο Ποσειδώνα μή φοβάσαι,

τέτοια στόν δρόμο σου ποτέ σου δέν θά βρείς,

άν μέν’ η σκέψις σου υψηλή, άν εκλεκτή

συγκίνησις τό πνεύμα καί τό σώμα σου αγγίζει.

Τούς Λαιστρυγόνας καί τούς Κύκλωπας,

τόν άγριο Ποσειδώνα δέν θά συναντήσεις,

άν δέν τούς κουβανείς μές στήν ψυχή σου,

άν η ψυχή σου δέν τούς στήνει εμπρός σου.

Να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος.

Πολλά τά καλοκαιρινά πρωϊά νά είναι

πού μέ τί ευχαρίστησι, μέ τί χαρά

θά μπαίνεις σέ λιμένες πρωτοειδωμένους

νά σταματήσεις σ’ εμπορεία Φοινικικά,

καί τές καλές πραγμάτειες ν’ αποκτήσεις

σεντέφια καί κοράλλια, κεχριμπάρια κ’ έβενους

καί ηδονικά μυρωδικά κάθε λογής

όσο μπορείς πιό άφθονα ηδονικά μυρωδικά

σέ πόλεις Αιγυπτιακές πολλές νά πάς

νά μάθεις καί νά μάθεις απ’ τούς σπουδασμένους.

Πάντα στόν νού σου νάχεις τήν Ιθάκη.

Τό φθάσιμον εκεί είν’ ο προορισμός σου.

Αλλά μή βιάζεις τό ταξείδι διόλου.

Καλλίτερα χρόνια πολλά νά διαρκέσει

καί γέρος πιά ν’ αράξεις στό νησί

πλούσιος μέ όσα κέρδισες στόν δρόμο,

μή προσδοκώντας πλούτη νά σέ δώσει η Ιθάκη.

Η Ιθάκη σ’ έδωσε τ’ ωραίο ταξείδι.

Χωρίς αυτήν δέν θάβγαινες στόν δρόμο.

Άλλα δέν έχει νά σέ δώσει πιά.

Κι άν πτωχική τήν βρείς, η Ιθάκη δέν σέ γέλασε.

Έτσι σοφός πού έγινες, μέ τόση πείρα,

ήδη θά τό κατάλαβες η Ιθάκες τί σημαίνουν.

ITHAKA

When you start on your way to Ithaka,

pray that your journey will be long,

full of adventures, full of knowledge.

Do not fear the Lestrygonians

and the Cyclops and the angry Poseidon.

you will never run into such things on your way

if your thoughts are kept high, if a clear

excitement moves your body and your spirit.

You will never meet the Lestrygonians

and the Cyclops and the angry Poseidon

unless you carry them in your soul,

unless your soul raises them before you.

Pray that the trip is long.

Let the summer mornings be many

when you will enter with such pleasure, such joy,

harbors you have never seen before;

may you stop at Phoenician markets,

to buy their fine merchandise,

mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

and pleasurable perfumes of every kind,

as many as you can get;

And visit a lot of Egyptian cities,

to learn and go on learning from the scholars.

Always maintain Ithaka in your mind.

Your arrival there is your destiny.

But don’t hurry the voyage at all.

Let it last for many years;

and when you reach the island and you are old,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

do not expect any further riches from Ithaka.

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