Black and white details

 Engonopoulos Nikos

 ARCESILAUS

 he left
and I see him
going off
along
the deserted street
every so often he turns
and motions to us
with a slight movement of his eyelids
till
- little by little -
his wake
vanishes
fades
far into the horizon
he writes
in his letter - among other things -
that he likes
the
rain
"I'm Greek

Her bracelet

Nikos Engonopoulos

HYMN TO THE GLORY OF THE WOMEN WE LOVE

(...) the women we love are lakes
our burning lips whistle in their reeds
our beautiful birds swim in their waters
and then
as they soar up—proud as they are—
they reflect them /
the lakes
on their banks the poplar trees are lyres
whose music drowns all sorrows inside us
and as they overflow our being
with joy with calm
the women we love are
lakes  (...)

Translated by Thanasis Mascaleris

The orange and the oranges

 

Nikos Engonopoulos

HYMN TO THE GLORY OF THE WOMEN WE LOVE

(...) the women we love are forests
each of their trees a signal of love
and if in thee forests they make us lose our way

 it is exactly then
that we find ourselves
we are truly alive
and when from afar we hear storms approaching
and the wind brings us
the music and the tumult
of fairs
or the trumpets of peril
nothing—naturally—can frighten us; surely the thick foliages will protect us/
since the women we love are
forests (...)

(Translated by THANASIS MASKALERIS)

 

 

"God has a sense of humor..."

Engonopoulos Nikos poetry
POETRY 1948


this age
of civil strife
is no age
for poetry
and such like:
when something is about
to
be written
it's
as if
it were being written
on the other side
of death announcements

which is why
my poems
are so bitter
(and when - in any case - were they not?)
and are
- above all -
also
so
few

                                                                                                                            Translated by David Connolly