I haven't seen a reply to my question about the translation project. In
case it is still going, here is a translation I have just completed, of a
poem by the Greek poet Matthew Mountes. If the translation project is
closed, then I'm content to post this for members' enjoyment alone.....
vasili
THE WALL WITH MANY WINDOWS
I shall build a wall with many windows
it shall be exposed to the wind
with riggings and sails on its sides
so it can travel through time
faces shall fortify the windows
bodies shall scramble on the riggings
waves of fragrances
shall envelop it in the evenings.
I shall build it stone by stone
I shall engrave it with prayers
and I shall even dare
to dedicate it to you
to stand before you
definitively
like a fog and like a voice
it shall be described as a sail-bearer and a refuge
it shall give you sleep and words
the doubtfulness of hopes.
Behind each window
shall wait a booty
or a sorrow.
The little hunchback lady who lay in the park
and was resting her back in a small hollow
ecstasies and objects
that await.
You will be favoured with my love
my cat
my strength and my freedom
the sacred ornaments of sorrow.
Behind another window
a newborn shall be crying
eros, the battle
a spider's web
Anonymous and Sorrowful.
And a trunk from the Wisdom of Sirach:
For this reason treasures were unearthed
and clouds did spit as birds.
Ah, yes, I forgot the birds of the sky
but they shall be roosting on the window sills
to protect themselves from draughts
and other bold ones
shall grip the riggings
with the old salts.
You shall live with this spectacle of goodness
and you shall open your arms
to the dreamings of the wall
You shall be free or not
to accept its influence
and I
shall not hesitate
to play the jailer and the host
despite my dislike of intervening in others' life
And all these things that I write today
the wall, you and I
we shall escape from a cycle of horror
we shall be purified by grace
and we shall win
the real meaning of friendship
as we ascend the steps
of the end of the age
to be dissolved
into God's final phrase.
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