George Seferis: Collected Poems

CONTENTS FOREWORD xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT xx MYTHISTOREMA 1 The angel ... 3 2 Still one more well inside a cave ... 4 3 I woke with this marble head in my hands ... 5 4 And a soul / if it is to know itself ... 6 5 We didn't know them ... 8 6 The garden with its fountains in the rain ... 9 7 Westward the sea merges with a mountain range ... 10 8 What are they after, our souls, travelling ... 12 9 The harbour is old, I can't wait any longer ... 13 10 Our country is closed in, all mountains ... 14 11 Sometimes your blood froze like the moon ... 15 12 Three rocks, a few burnt pines, a lone chapel ... 16 13 Dolphins banners and the sound of cannons ... 17 14 Three red pigeons in the light ... 18 15 Sleep wrapped you in green leaves like a tree ... 19 16 On the track, once more on the track ... 20 17 Now that you are leaving ... 21 18 I regret having let a broad river slip ... 22 19 Even if the wind blows it doesn't cool us ... 23 20 In my breast the wound opens again ... 24 21 We who set out on this pilgrimage ... 25 22 So very much having passed before our eyes ... 26 23 A little farther ... 27 24 Here end the works of the sea, the works of love ... 28 GYMNOPAIDIA I Santorini 31 II Mycenae 33 BOOK OF EXERCISES Poems Given Letter of Mathios Paskalis 39 Syngrou Avenue, 1930 41 Reflections on a Foreign Line of Verse 42 Sixteen Haiku 44 This body that hoped to flower like a branch ... 48 Flight 49 Description 50 Sirocco 7 Levante 51 In the Manner of G. S. 52 The Old Man 54 Mr Stratis Thalassinos Five Poems by Mr S. Thalassinos I Hampstead 59 II Psychology 61 III All Things Pass Away 62 IV Fires of St John 63 V Nijinsky 65 Mr Stratis Thalassinos Describes a Man 1 67 2 Child 68 3 Adolescent 69 4 Young Man 71 5 Man 73 Notes for a 'Week' Monday 76 Tuesday 77 Wednesday 79 Thursday 81 Friday 83 Saturday 84 Sunday 86 Sketches for a Summer A Word for Summer 89 Epiphany, 1937 92 Raven 94 Flowers of the rock facing the green sea ... 96 The warm water reminds me each morning ... 97 Epitaph 98 Between two bitter moments ... 99 In the sea caves ... 100 Stop looking for the sea ... 101 LOGBOOK I Mathios Paskalis Among the Roses 105 Fine Autumn Morning 107 Piazza San Niccolò 109 Our Sun 111 The Return of the Exile 113 The Container of the Uncontainable 115 Interlude of Joy 116 The Leaf of the Poplar 117 Solidarity 118 The Last Day 120 Spring A.D. 122 The Jasmine 125 Narration 126 Morning 128 Les Anges Sont Blancs 129 The Sentence to Oblivion 132 The King of Asini 134 LOGBOOK II Days of June '41 139 Postscript 140 The Figure of Fate 141 Kerk Str. Oost, Pretoria, Transvaal 143 Stratis Thalassinos Among the Agapanthi 144 An Old Man on the River Bank 146 Stratis Thalassinos on the Dead Sea 148 Calligraphy 151 Days of April '43 152 Here Among the Bones 153 Last Stop 154 'THRUSH' I The houses I had they took away ... 161 II I saw him yesterday ... 163 III This wood that cooled my forehead ... 167 LOGBOOK III Agianapa I 173 Dream 174 Details on Cyprus 175 In the Goddess's Name I Summon You ... 176 Helen 177 Memory I 180 The Demon of Fornication 182 Three Mules 185 Pentheus 187 Memory II 188 Salamis in Cyprus 190 Euripides the Athenian 193 Engomi 194 THREE SECRET POEMS On a Ray of Winter Light 199 On Stage 202 Summer Solstice 206 From BOOK OF EXERCISES II Letter to Rex Warner 217 The Cats of St Nicholas 220 'On Aspalathoi ...' 223 APPENDIX: Rhymed Poems TURNING POINT Shells, Clouds Turning Point 231 Slowly You Spoke 232 The Sorrowing Girl 233 Automobile 234 Denial 235 The Companions in Hades 236 Fog 237 The Mood of a Day 239 Rocket 241 Rhyme 243 Erotikos Logos 247 THE CISTERN 255 From BOOK OF EXERCISES Pantoum 263 From LOGBOOK II Crickets 265 Actors, Middle East 266 From LOGBOOK III Agianapa II 267 In the Kyrenia District 268 Pedlar from Sidon 271 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 273 NOTES 277 BIOGRAPHICAL DATA 291 INDEX OF TITLES 293