The five caped Taygetus
awaits for you, the mountain
with its shining bottomless
crevasses and Malevos’ red soil
the vacant Lacedaemon awaits
for you to occupy it;
its rough plains and
the glens await for you
the heart of Peloponese throbs
for you oh gypsy people.
Go there and build castles
it’s the king’s command
find refuge in the bosom
of a motherland and
in the shade of a nest and
when you yearn for the clamour
and destruction of war
arm yourself with your hammer
and come under the king’s banner
and you too fight heroically.
So you’ll have among
the oleanders of Eurotas
your violin’s enchanting
echo which will accompany
your magical sauntering and
your new youth shall have
above it the guarding power
of the five peaked mountain
with its cypresses and its snow
with its gorges and fragrant air
and it’ll govern over you like
the king’s bright forehead.
Libros Libertad 