Where did my boy fly away
(Pou petaxe t'agori mou)
Son, my flesh and blood. marrow of my bones, heart of my own heart,
sparrow of my tiny courtyard, flower of my loneliness.
Where did my boy fly away? Where's he gone? Where's he leaving me?
The bird-cage is empty now, not a drop of water in the font.
What ever made your dear eyes closed and you are blind to my tears?
How are you frozen in your tracks and deaf to my bitter words?
Your sweetly scented lips
(Chili pou moschomyristo)
My fingers would slip through your curly hair, all through the night,
while you were fast asleep and I was keeping watch by your side.
Your eyebrows well shaped, as if drawn with a delicate pencil,
seemed to sketch an arch where my gaze could nestle and be at rest.
Your glistening eyes reflected the distances of the sky
at dawn and I tried to keep a single tear from misting them.
Your sweetly scented lips, whenever you spoke, made the boulders
and blighted trees blossom and nightingales flutter their wings.
On a day in may you left me
(Mera mayiou mou misepses)
On a day in May you left me, on that May day I lost you,
in springtime you loved so weIl, my son, when you went upstairs,
To the sun-drenched roof and looked out and your eyes never had
their lill of drinking in the light of the whole wide world at large.
With your manly voice so sweet and so warm, you recounted
as many things as all the pebbles strewn along the seashore.
My son, you told me that all these wonderful things will be ours,
but now your light has died out, our brightness and fire are gone.
Whenever you stood near the window
(Sto parathyri stekossoun)
Whenever you stood near the window, your brawny shoulder-blades
filled up the whole entranceway, the sea and the fishermen's boats
The house overflowed with your shadow, tall as an archangel,
and the bright bud of the evening-star sparkled up there in your ear.
Our window was the gateway for all the world, leading out
towards paradise, my dear hight, where the stars were all in bloom.
As you stood there with your gaze fixed on the glimmering sunset,
you looked like a helmsman steering a ship, which was your own room.
ln the warm blue twilight of evening - ahoy, away -
you sailed me straight into the stillness of the milky way.
But now this ship has foundered, its rudder has broken down,
and down in the depths of the ocean, I'm drifting all alone.
If I only had the immortals' potion
(T'athanato nero)
If only I had the immortals' potion if only I had
A new soul to give you, if only would wake for a moment,
To see and to speak and delight in the whole of your dream
Standing right there by your side, next to you, bursting with life.
Roadways and public places, balconies, lanes in an uproar,
young maidens are picking flowers to sprinkle on your hair.
My fragrant forest full of tens of thousands of roots and leaves,
how can I the ill-fated believe I can ever lose you?
My son, all things have vanished and abandoned me back here
I have no eyes and cannot see, no mouth to let me speak.
Yiannis Ritsos is one of the four great Greek poets of the twentieth century together with Odysseus Elytis, Kostis Palamas and Giorgos Seferis. His poetry was banned at times in Greece for its left wing content. Notable works by Ritsos include Tractor (1934), Pyramids (1935), Epitaph (1936), and Vigil (1941–1953).