Ear-shat­ter­ing actions, sound­less retreats, utter­ances fused
in the silence
Every­thing that did not even­tu­ate, was spo­ken of and met with no response,
while no one nego­ti­at­ed over the losses.

In the book of mirages my image ric­o­chets off the labyrinth.

I am an object of obser­va­tion inside the hour­glass
where the sand forms sand-dunes obstruct­ing
my con­sent to be free.

I for­give you… That is all I can do inside this ambi­tious arc
whose bounds remain uncir­cum­scribed
and whose four sides are guard­ed by the Eccle­si­ast -
no, not every­thing can be futile.

How can one save up a whole lot of strength
in whose every step nes­tles the fear of impasse,
who is dogged by the whis­per­ing
of his cowardice?

You fol­low the trail pri­mal forces carved out
with dawn’s cru­el beak
sav­aging you in the now
hold­ing on to the score of the timeline.

So, then, lis­ten to me. I was nev­er a hunter of visions –
all the things I loved
first mor­ti­fied my self­ish­ness, and then set­tled inside of me.
Latched on to this unfath­omable plan­et
your life is the cur­tain of your action
fierce­ly vouch­saf­ing the momen­tum
in the midst of uncer­tain­ty,
as when look­ing in the mir­ror
and all you are is that part you’d imag­ined
would bear through.

 

Trans­lat­ed from Greek by Kostan­ti­nos Mat­soukas
 

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