At railway station

   Gatsos Nikos poetry

I
Aμοργός
 Μὲ τὴν πατρίδα τους δεμένη στὰ πανιὰ καὶ τὰ κουπιὰ στὸν ἄνεμο κρεμασμένα
Οἱ ναυαγοὶ κοιμήθηκαν ἥμεροι σὰν ἀγρίμια νεκρὰ μέσα στῶν σφουγγαριῶν τὰ σεντόνια
Ἀλλὰ τὰ μάτια τῶν φυκιῶν εἶναι στραμένα στὴ θάλασσα
Μήπως τοὺς ξαναφέρει ὁ νοτιᾶς μὲ τὰ φρεσκοβαμένα λατίνια
Κι ἕνας χαμένος ἐλέφαντας ἀξίζει πάντοτε πιὸ πολὺ ἀπὸ δυὸ στήθια κοριτσιοῦ ποὺ σαλεύουν
Μόνο ν᾿ ἀνάψουνε στὰ βουνὰ οἱ στέγες τῶν ἐρημοκκλησιῶν μὲ τὸ μεράκι τοῦ ἀποσπερίτη
Νὰ κυματίσουνε τὰ πουλιὰ στῆς λεμονιᾶς τὰ κατάρτια
Μὲ τῆς καινούργιας περπατησιᾶς τὸ σταθερὸ ἄσπρο φύσημα
Καὶ τότε θά ῾ρθουν ἀέρηδες σώματα κύκνων ποὺ μείνανε ἄσπιλοι τρυφεροὶ καὶ ἀκίνητοι
Μὲς στοὺς ὁδοστρωτῆρες τῶν μαγαζιῶν μέσα στῶν λαχανόκηπων τοὺς κυκλῶνες
Ὅταν τὰ μάτια τῶν γυναικῶν γίναν κάρβουνα κι ἔσπασαν οἱ καρδιὲς τῶν καστανάδων
Ὅταν ὁ θερισμὸς ἐσταμάτησε κι ἄρχισαν οἱ ἐλπίδες τῶν γρύλων

                                                     
  I
Amorgos
(a small part of the poem)

With their country tied to their sails and their oars hung on
      the wind
The shipwrecked slept tamely like dead beasts on a bedding
      of sponges
But the eyes of seaweed are turned toward the sea
Hoping the South Wind will bring them backwith their
       lateen-sails new-painted
For one lost elephant is always worth much more than the
       quivering breasts of a girl
Only if the roofs of deserted chappels should light up with the
       caprice of the Evening Star
Only if birds should ripple amid the masts of the lemon trees
With the firm white flurry of lively footsteps
Will the winds come, the bodies of swans that remained im-
       maculate, unmoving and tender
When steamrollers rolled through shops, when hurricanes
       whirled through vegetation
When the eyes of women became coal and the hearts of the
       chestnut hawkers were broken
When the harvest was done and the hopes of crickets began.

(translated by Kimon Friar) 

 Listen to ''Amorgos'' the first part. Music by Hantzidakis

....................................................................... 

Nikos Gatsos's profoundly mysterious and magnetic poem `Amorgos',
named after a Greek island he never visited and written during the Nazi
occupation, is the single work on which his reputation rests. It is a 
wonderful incantation on the theme of loss and hope – a unique blend of 
surrealism, symbolism and folk song – lyrical and erotic, sometimes 
celebratory, sometimes bitter.(http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/amorgos/)