“I did only Satyrs. I want­ed to stop that sar­cas­tic laughter

that made me go mad.”

 

Yan­noulis Halepas, 1878

 

 

I have every right to be alone

– a minute presence –

I alone have every right

to observe

the well-craft­ed volumes

the black gri­maces on this marble.

I want to understand

(try to understand)

what it is that has­tens to give the brain its freedom

what – in extreme refinement –

it is that asks the brain to give back its freedom

the whole story

the sce­nario and the hammer.

 

The artist tried to do this.

It is 1878.

The Acrop­o­lis exists.

This coun­try exists (exists?)

under obser­va­tion” –  be it so –

and “in dete­ri­o­rat­ing con­di­tion

the face fil­tered through the wrinkles

(he might almost guess the agi­tat­ed move­ments pass­ing by

the holo­grams on this marble)

 

What­ev­er exists will be destroyed

 

every sin­gle clay model

every sin­gle study

the soul exposed 

to this impulsiveness

over­whelm­ing the emp­ty air (emp­ty?)

the air filled with emp­ty agitation

don’t turn around/don’t believe it/don’t deceive your mind with ghosts of this kind 

 

I have every right to be alone

I alone have every right

to observe

this face

the laugh on this face

erod­ing consciousness

pro­ject­ed elastic

the whole face a laugh

drenching/         years now/        the mind/           bend­ing it

to the point of utter resistance

where only the wind can bend.

 

The world becomes small­er and small­er — almost empty.

(what is the true pri­mal essence of things)

The mind stops resisting.

The hands remain inert.

 

I have every right to be alone.

I want to stop this laughter.

I want to hear beyond it.

                                                                                              Trans­lat­ed by Richard Pierce

 

 * In the win­ter of 1877–1878 the famous Greek sculp­tor Yan­noulis Chalepas suf­fered from a severe ner­vous break­down: he destroyed hun­dreds of clay mod­els, stud­ies and sculp­tures, main­ly of heads of Satyrs. He was put ‘under obser­va­tion’ and, ulti­mate­ly, sent to Italy to recov­er. He soon returned to Greece to study the sculp­ture of the Acropolis.

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