Yánnis Kondós
From: At the Turn of Day (1992)
An End to Travelling
I return to your old house.
The dog at the gate recognises me,
a fire burns in your hearth
and smoke rises from your chimney.
The area has not changed in particular.
Only the castle opposite
has crumbled. From there at night
I used to watch you with thirsty eyes.
The trees have grown old
and some no longer exist
so the big road could be widened,
the road I am walking now.
Wolves, foxes, and jackals
circle round me, tame
as always. Fluffs of down
fall from the sky
- it might well be snowing —
the palm tree, on which you leaned
now slightly bends
to the left, longing
for you to repeat the action.
Some stones recognised me
and rolled towards me.
The hollow of my eye
saw all of this and more
that it remembered and
the spittle of yearning
turned to honey.
Translated by Peter Constantine
Page(s) 25-26
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