Giorgos Seferis Poems

On the secret seashore
white like a pigeon
we thirsted at noon;
but the water was brackish.
...

It trembled so, the wind set it sailing
it trembled so, how could it not yield to the wind
far beyond
the sea
...

We were happy all that morning
Ο God how happy.
First the stones the leaves and the flowers shone
and then the sun
...

In the sea caves
there's a thirst there's a love
there's an ecstasy
all hard like shells
...

Bend if you can to the dark sea forgetting
the flute's sound on naked feet
that trod your sleep in the other, the sunken life.
...

Just a little more
And we shall see the almond trees in blossom
The marbles shining in the sun
The sea, the curling waves.
...

How can you gather together
the thousand fragments
of each person?
What's wrong with the rudder?
...

Ephemeral issue of a vicious daemon and a harsh fate,
why do you force me to speak of things that it would be better for you not to know.

SILENUS TO MIDAS*
...