Transience: A translated poem of the Greek poet Yiannis Ritsos

All mine- he says. All of this world. All this world is mine.

Statues, books, roses, the gas station, the stationary,

a staircase, all the staircases, corridors, wells, shops, cigarettes, nights,

the music, the silence, two palm trees behind the wall,

two dark barrels in the ruined arcade, this face, that body,

and another ·

blue, black framed eyes, kiss me· all mine·

mine- I cannot halt to sleep with you·

I grab Sophocles’ knee as the Evening star comes out·

a balcony hangs from my shoulder,

a huge flower from my mouth,

all my bracelets, I have thrown-

I have no time· what do you want? Leave me. Sea I am perishing- he says-

I am dissecting, dissolving, multiplying, - innumerable· -

I want to be found in my body- he says-

to find my body in another body-

amen-

one- dimensional, to exist whole·

to exist

inside the amnesia of the multitude,

in the experience of the entire.

Amen, I say thee. Amen.

* This is my translation and interpretation of Yiannis' Ritsos greek poem:Το απρόφταστο,

published in his 1980 poetic collection : Το Άγαλμα στην Βροχή.

* Painting: Coastal Scene with a Boy,by Johannes Grenness

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