lyrics

Sixteen Haiku And Other Stories

original poetry in Greek by George Seferis 

Bells were heard

and messengers arrived

I wasn’t expecting them,

even the way they spoke was forgotten

rested, their clothes freshly changed,

carrying their fruit in baskets.

I was amazed and whispered:

‘I love these amphitheaters.’

The concave shell filled immediately

and on the stage the lights dimmed

as though for some celebrated murder.

Track 2:  Haiku One

Into the lake spill

a single drop of wine

and there fades the sun

Track 3: Haiku Two

In the meadows

not one four-leaf clover;

among the three of us, who is to blame?

Track 4: Haiku Three

In the museum garden

Chairs deserted.

The statues have gone back

to that other museum.

Track 5:  Haiku Four

Could that be the voice?

of our dead friends?

or could that be the phonograph?

Track 6: Haiku Five

She rests her fingers

on the sea-blue scarf

Look, there: corals!

Track 7: Haiku Six

Contemplating

Heavy are her breasts

through the looking glass

Track 8: Haiku Seven

Again I put on

the tree leaves

and you, you bleat.

Track 9: Haiku Eight

Darkness. The wind.

Divorce spreads

and moves in waves.

Track 10: Haiku Nine

Naked woman

the pomegranate she threw

was full of stars.

Track 11: Haiku Ten

I am raising now

a dead butterfly

with no make-up

Track 12: Haiku Eleven

How can you gather

the thousand little pieces

of each person?

Track 13: Haiku Twelve

What's wrong with the rudder?

The boat goes in circles

And not a single gull in sight

Track 14: Haiku Thirteen

Sick Fury

She has no eyes left,

the snakes she was grasping

swallow her hands.

Track 15: Haiku Fourteen-A (sung in greek)

Τούτη η κολώνα

Έχει μια τρύπα

Βλέπεις την Περσεφόνη

Track 16: Haiku Fourteen-B

There is a hole in this column.

Can you see

Persephone?

Track 17: Haiku Fifteen

The world goes down

hang on, you'll be left

alone in the sun.

Haiku 18: Haiku Sixteen

You always write

The ink diminishes

The sea multiplies

Like the Dead Sea, we are all

many fathoms below the surface of the Aegean.

Come with me and I will show you the setting:

In the Dead See

there are no fish

there is no seaweed

nor any sea-urchins

there is no life.

There are no creatures

that have a belly

to suffer hunger

that nourish nerves

to suffer pain,

THIS IS THE PLACE, GENTLEMEN!

In the Dead See

Scornfulness

is no one’s trade

no one’s worry.

Heart and thought

congeal in salt

that’s full of bitterness

and finally join

the mineral world

THIS IS THE PLACE, GENTLEMEN!

In the Dead See

enemies and friends

wife and children

other relations

go and find them.

They’re in Gomorrah

down  on the bottom

very happy

they don’t expect

any message.

GENTLEMEN, we continue our tour

many fathoms below the surface oh the Aegean                           July ’42

The water warm, just reminds me

every dawn

that I have nothing else alive around me.

Track 21: [this human body]

This human body had a hope: like a branch that could flourish,

to bear fruit, and in the frost become a flute

imagination has thrust it deep into a buzzing beehive

so that, a musical storm may come and torture it.

Whether it’s dusk

or dawn’s first light

the jasmine always

stays white