SONG OF MY SISTER
(w,i".11
wAn Ais
,isl"
/irsl
sl,uek wilh Ib
a,.ti
II••,. wilh
mati,..ss
WGI
liyin,
ill all
GlY/llm)
· . . Once I believed in the sky
but you showed me
the depths of the
sea
with the dead towns,
the forgotten forests,
the drowned noises.
The sky, now a wounded seagull,
has plunged into the sea.
This hand that was building for you
the bridge over Chaos
has collapsed.
Look
at me:
how naked and innocent
I stand before you.
I am cold, my sister.
Who will bring us sun
to warm our hands?
I am silent. I am listening.
No one passes
our dark street of night.
The stars are shipwrecked
in the corroded eyes
of a plucked eagle
wavering on the edge
of dark ramparts.
Your bound hands
block the exit.
Your voice alone
paces the corridor of night
tapping the tiles
with its long sword.
It is late.
Death rejects me.
Life does not want me.
Where can I go?
Yiannis Ritsos
(Translated from the Greek
by
Eleni Paidollssi
&
Dan Georgakas)
