On a Phrase of Aeschylus*

No sea in Syria, no sea 
In Afghanistan, only 
A sea of suffering 
Humanity and if it is 
With difficulty we see 
‘The Aegean flower 
With corpses’, it is not 
Because we have to 
Wade through 
A sea of the world’s 
Indifference to witness 
It but also because 
We do not wish to hear 
The siren-beset ship we are 
Sailing on is well 
On its way to Lethe. 

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 *Agamemnon, l. 659
 
 cf. the following link to see how George Seferis uses this phrase in one of his poems: 

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-the-manner-of-g-s/

Opportunity Is A Window Onto the World

The sea, the sea, who will be able to drain it dry? 
—George Seferis, from “Mythistorema” 

In this small house 
On the bluff that is being 
Inexorably eaten away,

 
In front of the large bay window
Letting in the light, 
Pray your eyes take in

 
As much as they can 
Before running out 

And down to the strand, 

 

Your hands cupped 
Round your ears so you can hear clearly 
The world’s beckoning, inexhaustible

Song.

Socrates the Athenian

…somewhere round about here where we’re groping— 

a little nearer or a little farther

 —George Seferis, from “Mythistorema” 

Surely 

That deviant worm’s left 

Further damning evidence 

Of our advances, let us dig 

A little deeper. 

Two Poems by George Seferis

10.

At the hour when dreams come true,

at the first sweet glimmer of dawn,

I saw lips that opened

leaf by leaf.

A slim sickle shone in the sky.

I feared it would mow them down.

from “Summer Solstice,” part three of Three Secret Poems,

translated  by Walter Kaiser.

*

The Jasmine

Whether it gets dark

or light

the jasmine stays

always white.

Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.

NB: Some down-to-earth observers of the heavens will note that the sickle framed in jasmine is setting in the west and not rising in the east but that shouldn't distract them from noticing the celestialness of these two pieces.