(1972. I am the Night Porter. A note
tells me - The man in room seven is
Greek. His name is Mikis Theodorakis,
but I you must call him Mr Wilson as
the Greek Generals are after him.)
The man in room seven wants ouzo
so I bring him whiskey and tell him no,
no I don’t know any Greek freedom songs
Later he asks if Lord Byron stayed here?
Here, in this fine old London house.
When I tell him I don’t recall the name
he laughs a while, then he sobs
He says he is drinking for a friend.
And I say ‘That is a good thing to do.
Do I know Georgios Seferis has died?
‘that sweet poet is gone he whispers
After that it is all Greek to me
and 'still no sign of Byron.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
kind of funny what this reminds me of, stayed in vevey on lake geneva, walked to Chillon castle and went down inside its bowels, found Byrons inscription there from 1815, his 27 th year, funny because it was 2000, my 27th year of life, relation none, coincidence proabally not, but just threw me because i used to have a picture of Byron in his turkish get up while crusading in greece before he died, i almost came back to the states of american mind and married my cousin, or was it his nephew, or whatever, now that would be weird