THE MONOGRAM (1972) Odysseas Elytis
Translated by: Constantinos Neophytou
I’ll mourn forever -do you hear me?- for you, alone, in Paradise
IV
It’s still early in this world, do you hear me
The monsters have not been tamed, do you hear me
My lost blood and the sharp, do you hear me
Knife
Like a ram racing in the heavens
Breaking the branches of the stars, do you hear me
It’s me, do you hear me
I love you, do you hear me
Holding you and taking you and dressing you
In Ophelia’s white wedding dress, do you hear me
Where are you leaving me, where are you going and who, do you hear me
Is holding your hand over the floods
The huge basins and the volcanic lavas
There will be one day, do you hear me
When they’ll bury us, and after thousands of years
They’ll turn us into precious stones, do you hear me
To crush on them the heartlessness, do you hear me
Of Man
And throw the thousand pieces
In the water one by one, do you hear me
I count my bitter pebbles, do you hear me
And time is a big church, do you hear me
Where once the figures
Of the Saints
Shed real tears, do you hear me
The bells tear in the sky, do you hear me
A deep passage for me to pass
The angels await with candles and eulogies
I’m not going anywhere, do you hear me
Either nobody or both of us together, do you hear me
This flower of the storm and, do you hear me
Of love
We cut it once and for all
And it cannot blossom otherwise, do you hear me
In another earth, in another star, do you hear me
The ground, the air that we touched,
Is no longer the same, do you hear me
And no gardener was happy in other times
From so much winter and north winds, do you hear me
Throw the flower, just us, do you hear me
In the middle of the ocean
By the power of love alone, do you hear me
We created a whole island, do you hear me
With caves and headlands and blossoming cliffs
Listen, listen
Who’s talking to the water and who’s crying -are you listening?
Who’s searching for others, who’s yelling - are you listening?
I’m the one who’s yelling, I’m the one who’s crying, do you hear me
I love you, I love you, do you hear me.
