Seattle Performance Group

Three poems of the sea by George Sarandáris (1907-41)

Prelude
We are always reading the waves.
And time takes us
And leaves us on other seas
And brings us to other seas.
The dance within the dance
Everyone becomes a child.
I
O dove of the soul may you fare well
Go now with the etesian wind
And kiss for me whatever pearls you meet
If you cannot see me do not fear I shall keep holiday with you
On our voyage we shall raise the waters from the sea
To bless whatever we have loved
And whatever we no longer forget
The dove moored in the garden
My soul moored in then garden
Well. I remember now the summer of my life
As though you were earth's only springtime
I confront you o day of my birth
II
The lucky sea waves to us
As though the birds above it were guiding it
As though they were taking it into their arms
The ether is a straight road
Everyone walks within his shadow
Or within his sleep
Whoever takes the sea into his arms
Seems not to suffer from weight
Seems not ashamed of going with the wind
Seems as though he holds all the earth in his glance
As though he sings in the night
And behold night becomes a mother to him
That he may sing in the sun
And love a woman
Who seems an infant to him
That he may sing in the wind
And thus keep on losing and winning his voice
III
The sea shatters into numberless crystals
We scoop them up and mounted on air go voyaging
We scatter them wherever we see women lamenting
As though deprived of their children
Then the seas are created again
And an unsurpassable innocence discerns them
Then men fly higher in the sky
To take in all they can of light from far away
While women dressed in black eternally narrate
The birth of the seas

Three poems of the sea was translated from the Greek by Kimon Friar, "Modern Greek Poetry", Simon and Schuster, 1973, New York.

Three poems of the sea’ by Eugénio Rodrigues,…revealed a young man who can infuse rapturous, unabashedly post-romantic music with something all his own.
… luminous, hot and heavy, minimal, wide-rangingly linear – and the audience registered its hearty approval.

News-Times – Danbury, CT October 16,1989