Poem by Kostas Hatzopoulos
IVY
Oh ivy, crawling, you engulf the house
in your flowerless, scentless leaves
and craft a mournful dome around its door
as if the foggy night has come to squat by its front step
where no birds perch nor sunshine caresses
and not a whisper issues from your breath
and dawn and dusk pass joylessly across you
as if we both live sorrowful and bitter lives
and now that fall has ruined the poplar’s leaves
and the honeysuckle that always cheered you
as it bloomed beside you has departed
and only my sadness still fully leaved,
oh, dark, dense ivy, a butterfly as dark as you
seeks beauty from a hidden sunray and flies
among your joyless leaves to drink its sorrow
dripping from the wet and barren clouds,
as if you’ve spread your branches over me
just as one day you’ll spread your silent moment
one morning when the cloudless dawn will shine
its white light over your closed eyes.
Libros Libertad 