AN EVENING WAS TREMBLING

I said "I love you"
and the wave broke
silent and soft,
as if expiring.

I said "I love you"
and the air trembled,
as if in the voice
some air was weeping.

I said "I love you"
and the evening was falling
as if in the voice
an evening was trembling.

Konstantinos Hatzopoulos
English translation by A.A.


THE PUREST THING OF CREATION

I don't know, but there's no darkness left at all.
The sun poured into me through thousands of wounds.
And this whiteness I surrounded you with
you won't find even on the Alps, because this air
whirls as high as there and the snow becomes soiled.
Even on a white rose you'd find a speck of dust.
The perfect thing you'll find only in a human being:
white expanses which radiate truly
in the universe and are superior. The purest
thing then of creation is not the twilight,
neither the sky mirrored in the river, nor
the sun on the apple tree's flowers. It is love.

Nikephoros Vrettakos
English translation by A.A.

Both poems are from The Greek Institute's
Greek Heritage Calendar 2011