Poem by Kostas Karyotakis

WHAT CAN I SAY TO YOU

What can I say to you, oh autumn, when you rise

from the lights of the city up to the clouds?

Hymns, symbols, poetry all familiar frosty

flowers of the mind flow onto your hair.

A giant, you appear like an emperor’s spectrum

on the road of bitterness and recollection;

with your golden greatcoat’s fringe you scatter

leaves and faces of stars upon the soil

you, the angel of decay, master of death

the shadow which in a few imaginary steps

occasionally you slowly flap your wings

to write question-marks on the horizon.

I yearn, oh shivering autumn, for the hours

for this forest’s trees, the lonely bust

and as the branches fall onto the soil at autumn

I’ve come to let myself into your holy ardor

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