REFUSAL


Throw the weak days away
for them to fight with vultures and win,
for all to be done quickly and brightly
like the most brilliant stars,
like the white nights,
when loves die and in the morning lovers split
with a pain between the eyes, between the ribs.
You and I shall fight together with pleasures and appeals,
transient and futile changes.
The love I forsook to be with you first and alone,
doesn’t wait for the moon to rise
and retaliate for my deed.
I must be going now, before you realize that
I don’t really exist,
that I’m only light
casting its cells for the last time
on a human face.

Βy Maria Panoutsou  Translated from the Greek language 
 by Yannis Goumas

HESIONE*

Shut in her room with the scent of roses
pounded with wet stones
picked one by one from the riverbank and shining still,
Hesione struggled to remove the clasps
which she placed on a piece of cloth weaved by her grandma.

Days later she lay in bed wrapped in a sacred vestment.
Secret hopes torpedoed her body
and for a moment removed the clasps from the groin.
All worthless.

People were buried nearby.
The freshly-dug graves smelled of tamarisks.
She and the Thoans scanned the sea.
Nothing reminded one of who she was and why she mourned.
She forgot all about Hercules, thurifications and joys never to be.
Now all worthless.  


POEM  FORM THE COLLECTION SALUADER
BY  MARIA PANOUTSOU  TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH BY GIANNIS GOUMAS

Turn round/ It is me/ there/ in the dark/
You see those shadows? like small  angle flying?
Next to the chair, by the stove/

On the first stair,/ at the slightly open door
As you go to shut the dooΡ/ shrinks back/
remains open

Yes/ I let you go/ dreaming a freedom/
what kind freedom ?  

The world is full of bodies,/ mine/
was the enslavement of your soul/

You said/And you ?
With this face/ only pressed to a woman’s breast
Can I forget/

Τhe yearning that sews my womb/
It was raining that summer/ I recall/I am  aged
You were the age of fifteen and me the age of  ages/

MARIA PANOUTSOU    SALUADER