294 292
294
HESIOD, WORKS AND DAYS, 582-588
AND WHEN THE MILK THISTLE BLOOMS AND THE LOUD CICADA
PERCHED ON A TREE POURS ON THE GROUND ITS SONOROUS SONG
THICKLY FROM UNDER ITS WINGS, THEN IT IS THE TIME OF SUMMERTIME TOIL
LIGYROS (adj.) DISTINCTLY AND SHARPLY AUDIBLE, SHARP, RESOUNDING, SIBYLANT, PENETRATING
ΙL.Ψ.215 ὦρτο δέ κῦμα πνοιῄ ὓπο λιγηρῆ, EUR. MED. 205: λιγυρὰ... ἂχεα ( THE SORROWS
EXPRESSED BY MEANS OF SHARPLY VOICED LAMENTS) // LIGYS, THE DISTINCTIVE AND
SWEET, PLEASANTLY SOUNDING, MELODIOUS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE VOICE OF THE SI
RENS: ΟD.Μ.44 λιγυρῇ θέλγουσιν ἀοιδῇ • κ’ επί των ΤΕΤΤΙΓΩΝ: HES. Ε+Η 583, Α 278 τοὶ μὲν
ὑπὸ λιγυρῶν συρίγγων ἳεσαι αὐδήν, PLATO, PHA.230 C: ΘΕΡΙΝΟΝ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΛΙΓΥΡΟΝ ΥΠΗΧΕΙ
BREATH I
A blowing breath of wind you arrive
the nights we sit on the balconies to sail out
into a sky of climbers in bloom
a breath gentle
as the beating of buttefly wings – as the
alighting
of the bee
on a flower
sucking the juice making love with mouth
and feet
imbibing the constant changes in the ground
and the weather
because who said who classified separately
in his collection
separately the butterflies the bees and the
plants
separately the cats the goats or the trees
the bushes separate from sea weeds
the mouth separate from the sperm separate
from the stamens and vaginas
a breath of wind softly caressing faces bodies
increasingly unclad uncovered cast in the
roofless night
as the sky dome flattens itself against the
earth
and in their joining we
summer creatures
snuggling between them in their embrace
pleasurably hunting for pleasure
and receiving it
through the pores of the skin
open corridors of the outside inward
passageways to the mind the heart memory
all of us
small transmitters and receptors in the great
funnel
of the perennially swirling
universe
wind breath whispered voice of the sea
breeze
grab me I say
in your arms
with your own force
so that I tenderly give in
ALCAEUS 347a
moisten your lungs with wine for the star is rising
and the time is harsh, everything thirsts in the scorching heat
and out of the petals the sweet cicada can be heard
(374 b.) From underneath his wings
he pours
the resounding song
MATSUO BASHO
A cicada shell
it sangs itself
utterly away
THEOCRITUS BUCOL.IDYLLIA.16: ἁνίκα τέττιξ
ποιμένας ἐνδίους πεφυλαγμένος ὑψοθι δέντρων
ἀχεῑ ἐν ἀκρεμόνεσιν
-while the cicada
safe from the shepherds he can be heard of a noon
high on the remotest tree branches
ATH. DEIPNOSOPHISTAE 2.1.92.19the cicada withstands the
scorching heat and sings at noon
STILLNESS: MATSUO BASHO: tr. ROBERT HASS
NONE IS TRAVELLING: MATCUO BASHO
In the cicada’s cry
There’s no sign can foretell
How soon it must die
κάτω από τα φτερά του
το διαπεραστικό τραγούδι χύνει
Κέλυφος Τζίτζικα
τραγούδησε τον εαυτό του
αχ τώρα πολύ μακριά
Stillness
the cicada’s cry
drills into the rock
Απ’ τη φωνή του τζίτζικα
δεν το μαντεύεις
πως όπου να ‘ναι θα πεθάνει
ΜΕΣΣΤΟΚΑΤΑΚΑΛΟΚΑΙΡΟ
Κ Ω Δ Ω Ν Ο Κ Ρ Ο Υ Σ Ι Ε Σ
B E L L S
T O L L I N G
M I D S U M M E R