Manolis Anagnostakis - The Chess / Το Σκάκι

Come to play...
I will give you my queen
She was once my dear
Now I don't have a dear

I will give you my towers
Now I don't shoot my friends
They have died long ago
Before I did

All, all my horses I will give you
All, all my horses I will give you
Only this crazyman I will keep
Who knows to go to one colour only

Jumping from the one edge to the other
Laughing to all these armors
Invading to your lines
Bringing mess to your stable lines

Come to play...
This king was never mine
and these soldiers, I want them for what!
They go ahead without dreams

All, all my horses I will give you
All, all my horses I will give you
Only this crazyman I will keep
Who knows to go to one colour only

Jumping from the one edge to the other
Laughing to all these armors
Invading to your lines
Bringing mess to your stable lines

Come to play...
and shall this game have no end.

         ***

Έλα να παίξουμε.

Θα σου χαρίσω τη βασίλισσά μου.
( Ήταν για μένα μια φορά η αγαπημένη.
Τώρα δεν έχω πιά αγαπημένη )

Θα σου χαρίσω τους πύργους μου
( Τώρα πιά δεν πυροβολώ τους φίλους μου
Έχουν πεθάνει καιρό πριν από μένα )

Κι ο βασιλιάς αυτός δεν ήτανε ποτέ δικός μου.

Κι ύστερα τόσους στρατιώτες τι τους θέλω;
( Τραβάνε μπρός, τυφλοί, χωρίς καν όνειρα )

Όλα , και τα άλογά μου θα στα δώσω.

Μονάχα ετούτον τον τρελό μου θα κρατήσω.
Που ξέρει μόνο σ ένα χρώμα να πηγαίνει
Δρασκελώντας τη μια άκρη ως την άλλη
Γελώντας μπρός στις τόσες πανοπλίες σου
Μπαίνοντας μέσα στις γραμμές σου ξαφνικά
Αναστατώνοντας τις στέρεες παρατάξεις.

Κι αυτή δεν έχει τέλος η παρτίδα.

Manolis Anagnostakis - THE SHIPWRECK

I too shall stay with you in the boat
After the dreadful shipwreck and the loss
The ship is now sinking far away
(Where have the other boats gone, who were saved?)
At some time or other we shall find a reef
A deserted island as in books
There we shall build our houses
Around the great square
And a church in the center.
In the highest place of all weʹll hang
The photograph of our lost captain
And lower down that of the second mate
And lower still that of the third.
Weʹll exchange our women and make many children
And then weʹll caulk a large vessel
A new one, brand new, and launch it into the sea.

Weʹll have grown old, but theyʹll recognize us.

Itʹs only that our children will not resemble us.

Manolis Anagnostakis - POETICS

Manolis Anagnostakis - THE DEAD MAN

All wore black ties
Rehearsed broken-hearted postures before their mirrors
The first lamentations began to be heard. the grievous laudations.

But the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.

Finally the hours dragged into days
Those dreadful days of waiting
His friends began to protest
Closed their offices, stopped all payments
Their children wandered in the streets like outcasts.
They watched flowers withering.

But the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.

(So many many things never foreseen
So many incalculable consequences, so many sacrifices,
To what responsible person can you protest, where can you shout?)

And the dead man would not die on the appointed hour.