while the night

while the night awaits

I unroll the high tide like a blanket

tightly under my chin

the waves like silken bedsheets

my body immense under the unlit sky

my arms stretching across the bay

my legs and feet unfolding far

far towards the invisible horizon

my head resting on the shelled sand

my lidless gaze resting in space

you can't understand if you haven't been there

but I'll let you come with me, if you wish

the waves tucked against my cheeks

the gentle glow of the stars

the silent scorch of the abated sun

the mind-music humming

the verses binding the thoughts

this perfected unity lulls me to sleep

I'll let you come, I'll let you come with me

to hear the heart of the sea pulse

while the night awaits

in that semblance of sleep

when memory takes over and starts dreaming

the soul-search commencing in the details,

in the inflexions of the voices,

in the shape of the sun,

in the form of the waves,

in the wrinkles at the corner of the eyes,

in the words, the meaninglessful words,

you can't understand if you can't see

you can't understand if you can't hear

yet if you have forgotten how to feel

or what it takes to listen

to hold a hand

or to withhold a hand

for they are like tears

I'll let you come with me

if you really want to see

if you really want to see

if you really want to see

when the world forms

what the world was, is, will be

while the night watches

while the blanket of the seas

envelops us both in loneliness

in exile, in brotherhood, in love

while the remanence of trees and rivers

traces arid songs of exile, brotherhood and love

and loneliness

bottled up deep in the ground

I'll let you come with me

and hold hands

and set the stars free

by breaking open glass poems

here, under the domed sky of Gyaros,

of Efstratios, of Makronisos

where my name is once again

and forever, Yannis Ritsos

to Rena