“Ελένη”(“Helen”). A poem of Giorgos Seferis with English translation
Ελένη
ΤΕΥΚΡΟΣ: …ἐς γῆν ἐναλίαν Κύπρον, οὗ μ’ ἐθέσπισεν
οἰκεῖν Ἀπόλλων, ὄνομα νησιωτικὸν
Σαλαμῖνα θέμενον τῆς ἐκεῖ χάριν πάτρας.
.........................................................
ΕΛΕΝΗ: Οὐκ ἦλθον ἐς γῆν Τρῳάδ’, ἀλλ’ εἴδωλον ἦν.
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ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ: Τί φῄς;
Νεφέλης ἄρ’ ἄλλως εἴχομεν πόνους πέρι;
ΕΥΡΙΠΙΔΗΣ, ΕΛΕΝΗ
«Τ’ αηδόνια δε σ’ αφήνουνε να κοιμηθείς στις Πλάτρες».
Αηδόνι ντροπαλό, μες στον ανασασμό των φύλλων,
συ που δωρίζεις τη μουσική δροσιά του δάσους
στα χωρισμένα σώματα και στις ψυχές
αυτών που ξέρουν πως δε θα γυρίσουν.
Τυφλή φωνή, που ψηλαφείς μέσα στη νυχτωμένη μνήμη
βήματα και χειρονομίες· δε θα τολμούσα να πω φιλήματα·
και το πικρό τρικύμισμα της ξαγριεμένης σκλάβας.
«Τ’ αηδόνια δε σ’ αφήνουνε να κοιμηθείς στις Πλάτρες».
Ποιές είναι οι Πλάτρες; Ποιός το γνωρίζει τούτο το νησί;
Έζησα τη ζωή μου ακούγοντας ονόματα πρωτάκουστα:
καινούριους τόπους, καινούριες τρέλες των ανθρώπων
ή των θεών·
η μοίρα μου που κυματίζει
ανάμεσα στο στερνό σπαθί ενός Αίαντα
και μιαν άλλη Σαλαμίνα
μ’ έφερε εδώ σ’ αυτό το γυρογιάλι.
Το φεγγάρι
βγήκε απ’ το πέλαγο σαν Αφροδίτη·
σκέπασε τ’ άστρα του Τοξότη, τώρα πάει νά βρει
την καρδιά του Σκορπιού, κι όλα τ’ αλλάζει.
Πού είν’ η αλήθεια;
Ήμουν κι εγώ στον πόλεμο τοξότης·
το ριζικό μου, ενός ανθρώπου που ξαστόχησε.
Αηδόνι ποιητάρη,
σαν και μια τέτοια νύχτα στ’ ακροθαλάσσι του Πρωτέα
σ’ άκουσαν οι σκλάβες Σπαρτιάτισσες κι έσυραν το θρήνο,
κι ανάμεσό τους —ποιός θα το ’λεγε— η Ελένη!
Αυτή που κυνηγούσαμε χρόνια στο Σκάμαντρο.
Ήταν εκεί, στα χείλια της ερήμου· την άγγιξα, μου μίλησε:
«Δεν είν’ αλήθεια, δεν είν’ αλήθεια» φώναζε.
«Δεν μπήκα στο γαλαζόπλωρο καράβι.
Ποτέ δεν πάτησα την αντρειωμένη Τροία».
Με το βαθύ στηθόδεσμο, τον ήλιο στα μαλλιά, κι αυτό το ανάστημα
ίσκιοι και χαμόγελα παντού
στους ώμους στους μηρούς στα γόνατα·
ζωντανό δέρμα, και τα μάτια
με τα μεγάλα βλέφαρα,
ήταν εκεί, στην όχθη ενός Δέλτα.
Και στην Τροία;
Τίποτε στην Τροία — ένα είδωλο.
Έτσι το θέλαν οι θεοί.
Κι ο Πάρης, μ’ έναν ίσκιο πλάγιαζε σα νά ηταν πλάσμα ατόφιο·
κι εμείς σφαζόμασταν για την Ελένη δέκα χρόνια.
Μεγάλος πόνος είχε πέσει στην Ελλάδα.
Τόσα κορμιά ριγμένα
στα σαγόνια της θάλασσας στα σαγόνια της γης·
τόσες ψυχές
δοσμένες στις μυλόπετρες, σαν το σιτάρι.
Κι οι ποταμοί φουσκώναν μες στη λάσπη το αίμα
για ένα λινό κυμάτισμα για μια νεφέλη
μιας πεταλούδας τίναγμα το πούπουλο ενός κύκνου
για ένα πουκάμισο αδειανό, για μιαν Ελένη.
Κι ο αδερφός μου;
Αηδόνι αηδόνι αηδόνι,
τ’ είναι θεός; τί μη θεός; και τί τ’ ανάμεσό τους;
«Τ’ αηδόνια δε σ’ αφήνουνε να κοιμηθείς στις Πλάτρες».
Δακρυσμένο πουλί,
στην Κύπρο τη θαλασσοφίλητη
που έταξαν για να μου θυμίζει την πατρίδα,
άραξα μοναχός μ’ αυτό το παραμύθι,
αν είναι αλήθεια πως αυτό ειναι παραμύθι,
αν είναι αλήθεια πως οι ανθρώποι δε θα ξαναπιάσουν
τον παλιό δόλο των θεών·
αν είναι αλήθεια
πως ��άποιος άλλος Τεύκρος, ύστερα από χρόνια,
ή κάποιος Αίαντας ή Πρίαμος ή Εκάβη
ή κάποιος άγνωστος, ανώνυμος, που ωστόσο
είδε ένα Σκάμαντρο να ξεχειλάει κουφάρια,
δεν το ’χει μες στη μοίρα του ν’ ακούσει
μαντατοφόρους που έρχουνται να πούνε
πως τόσος πόνος τόση ζωή
πήγαν στην άβυσσο
για ένα πουκάμισο αδειανό για μιαν Ελένη.
Γιώργος Σεφέρης. 1955. Κύπρον, οὗ μ᾿ ἐθέσπισεν. Αθήνα: Ίκαρος. Και στον συγκεντρωτικό τόμο: Γιώργος Σεφέρης. [1972] 1985. Ποιήματα. 15η έκδ. Αθήνα: Ίκαρος.
Helen
BY GEORGE SEFERIS
TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY
Teucer: . . . in sea-girt Cyprus, where it was decreed
by Apollow that I should live, giving the city
the name of Salamis in memory of my island home.
. . . . . . . . . .
Helen: I never went to Troy; it was a phantom.
. . . . . . . . . .
Servant: What? You mean it was only for a cloud
that we struggled so much?
— Euripides, Helen
‘The nightingales won’t let you sleep in Platres.’
Shy nightingale, in the breathing of the leaves,
you who bestow the forest’s musical coolness
on the sundered bodies, on the souls
of those who know they will not return.
Blind voice, you who grope in the darkness of memory
for footsteps and gestures — I wouldn’t dare say kisses —
and the bitter raving of the frenzied slave-woman.
‘The nightingales won’t let you sleep in Platres.’
Platres: where is Platres? And this island: who knows it?
I’ve lived my life hearing names I’ve never heard before:
new countries, new idiocies of men
or of the gods;
my fate, which wavers
between the last sword of some Ajax
and another Salamis,
brought me here, to this shore.
The moon
rose from the sea like Aphrodite,
covered the Archer’s stars, now moves to find
the heart of Scorpio, and alters everything.
Truth, where’s the truth?
I too was an archer in the war;
my fate: that of a man who missed his target.
Lyric nightingale,
on a night like this, by the shore of Proteus,
the Spartan slave-girls heard you and began their lament,
and among them — who would have believed it? — Helen!
She whom we hunted so many years by the banks of the Scamander.
She was there, at the desert’s lip; I touched her; she spoke to me:
‘It isn’t true, it isn’t true,’ she cried.
‘I didn’t board the blue bowed ship.
I never went to valiant Troy.’
Breasts girded high, the sun in her hair, and that stature
shadows and smiles everywhere,
on shoulders, thighs and knees;
the skin alive, and her eyes
with the large eyelids,
she was there, on the banks of a Delta.
And at Troy?
At Troy, nothing: just a phantom image.
That’s how the gods wanted it.
And Paris, Paris lay with a shadow as though it were a solid being;
and for ten whole years we slaughtered ourselves for Helen.
Great suffering had desolated Greece.
So many bodies thrown
into the jaws of the sea, the jaws of the earth
so many souls
fed to the millstones like grain.
And the rivers swelling, blood in their silt,
all for a linen undulation, a filmy cloud,
a butterfly’s flicker, a wisp of swan’s down,
an empty tunic — all for a Helen.
And my brother?
Nightingale nightingale nightingale,
what is a god? What is not a god? And what is there in between them?
‘The nightingales won’t let you sleep in Platres.’
Tearful bird,
on sea-kissed Cyprus
consecrated to remind me of my country,
I moored alone with this fable,
if it’s true that it is a fable,
if it’s true that mortals will not again take up
the old deceit of the gods;
if it’s true
that in future years some other Teucer,
or some Ajax or Priam or Hecuba,
or someone unknown and nameless who nevertheless saw
a Scamander overflow with corpses,
isn’t fated to hear
messengers coming to tell him
that so much suffering, so much life,
went into the abyss
all for an empty tunic, all for a Helen.
George Seferis, "Helen" from Collected Poems (George Seferis). Translated, edited, and introduced by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Copyright © 1995 by George Seferis. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.Source: George Seferis: Collected Poems (Princeton University Press, 1995).
Giorgos Seferis (1900-1971), a career diplomat, was major Greek poet of the 20th century (1963 Nobel Prize of literature).
I remind that the version of the events according to which Helen never went to Troy, but she was in Egypt during the whole Trojan war is of Herodotean origin (The Histories, Book II, 116-117). Euripides later reworked this version, introducing as part of the plot the story that the gods had sent to Troy a phantom in Helen’s place, a phantom for which Greeks and Trojans were killing each other for ten years...
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MONSTER IF THEY WERE THE ZODIAC KILLER ZODIAC SIGNES PART
Virgo (Virgin): ❤️ Jan ❤️
(He’s never done “IT” before 😉😱 IFYKYK)
He’s never afraid to put his heart into a project, no matter how difficult. God rest his soul.
He’s really enthusiastic
And he’s curtis and earger to assist others because he was excited to do his job.
And then, he’s lofty, (???) Devoted, attentive and devoted to romantic partners (like the pretty girl at the bar )
And he’s understanding 🧠
He needs a filter because he can’t take back Jeppoty chances
He’s really delicate and little
And he wants to enhance his job (in monster )
and he needs to rememebr to take a break from work and appreciate the small pleasures in life
Libra ♎️ (Lunge)
It’s an air sign. Represented by a scale and they’re ruled by VENUS which rhymes with PENIS 😁
He’s obsessed with symmetry and he moves his hands up and down like a scale, he’s an intellectual, he would make a really good decorator if he had a house but he doesn’t rn. A cardinal sign which means libra’s are great at launching new initiatives, struggles with indecision. Trust own initiation like when he ws trying to get TENMA ARRESTED😡😡😡😡😡😡Can resolve conflict with charm ✨
That’s all i got for libra ♎️
Scorpio ♏️ (DR. GILLEN)
Passionate and assertive
He kind of looks like aBUG AND A SCORPION IS A BUG A BUG A BUG HE LOOKS LIKE A BUG and he’s passionate and um he has a really good level of determination when talking to Criminals
He has experience that could get him destroyed 👀
Enemy: pieces
Weakness: Be manipulative but i don’t think he would do that because he’s sweet and gentle
Lustful? NO! Powerful? NO! Mysterious? Yes!
😄😃😅😂😄😂🤣😄😄😅😅😂😂😂
Reserved and takes some time to open up to people, observant and prone to staring (not starring)
Gatherings are lowkey but friendly at the same time
He was so lowkey he gave that guy a pen and the guy killed himself with a pen but he didn’t let it get to his head and he stayed focused and on task
Scorpio is like Leonardo decaprio, hillary clinton, SCROPIO BACKWARDS IS OIPROCS
he is charming with the ladies he captures my heart and he’s a water sign 🪧
Sagging tarius (Sagittarius (♐︎) (Greek: Τοξότης, romanized: Toxótēs, Latin for "archer"))
✨🎇GRIMMER🎇✨
They have curiously and humor and a sense for adventure
Sagittarius is a tea pot. HOTTTT! (grimmer) mH
He’s moral like moral orel and lazy and gluttonous but i, i think he’s open minded and versatile and his element is FIRE 🔥
adventurous lke when grimmer is running around homeless talking to people
Good natured, optimistic like how he looks at life, Good humor, but he eats a. lot so he’s gluttonous
Hes modest
His home planet is JUPITER TO GET MORE STUPITER ew this girl has her boobs out oop-
And he’s really enthusiastic! 🌹🌸💐🌺🌷🌻🥀🌼🪷🪻
“It’s impossible for humans to forget their emotions”
he said that
Aquarius (Christoph )
He’s really eccentric because i get scared when he’s on screen
hes unpredictable and reminds me of my abusive home life, and like when he almost shot someone
hes rebellious i guess and too hot to handle and hes artistic and good at art!
Not really open minded so i don’t think it’s accurat when they say that
Because hes a Nazi
And hes and air sign and is
Approachable because he shakes hands at parties
And he alwyas acts like there’s something wrong with him so hes charming and unconventional and charming
The dates are january 21-feb 19
Last but not least
Pieces (Fat prostitute)
She is a pieces because she’s fat
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