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ΑΞΙΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ
του Οδυσσέα Ελύτη
ΤΗΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΥΝΗΣ ήλιε νοητέ και μυρσίνη σύ δοξαστική
μη παρακαλώ σας μη λησμονάτε τη χώρα μου !
Αετόμορφα έχει τα ψηλά βουνά στα ηφαίστεια κλήματα σειρά
και τα σπίτια πιο λευκά στου γλαύκου το γειτόνεμα !
Της Ασίας αν αγγίζει από τη μια της Ευρώπης λίγο αν ακουμπά
στον αιθέρα στέκει να και στη θάλασσα μόνη της !
Και δεν είναι μήτε ξένου λογισμός και δικού της μήτε αγάπη μιά
μόνο πένθος άχ παντού και το φως ανελέητο !
Τα πικρά μου χέρια με τον Κεραυνό τα γυρίζω πίσω άπ' τον Καιρό
τους παλιούς φίλους καλώ με φοβέρες και μ' αίματα !
Μα' χουν όλα τα αίματα ξαντιμεθεί κι οι φοβέρες αχ λατομηθεί
και στον έναν ο άλλος μπαίνουν εναντίον οι άνεμοι !
Της Δικαιοσύνης ήλιε νοητέ και μυρσίνη σύ δοξαστική
μη παρακαλώ σας μη λησμονάτε τη χώρα μου !
Biography
His original surname Odyssιas Alepoudhιlis.
Greek poet and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Elytis was born in Irαklion, Crete, into a prosperous Cretan family. He studied law at Athens University from 1930 to 1935 without taking a degree and worked periodically in the family's soap manufacturing business.
Inspired by French Surrealism and especially , Elytis started to write verse. His first poems appeared in 1935 in magazine Ta Nea Grammata, which also published George Seferis's works. During WW II when Nazis occupied Greece, Elytis joined the resistance movement and served as a second lieutenant in Albania in 1940-41. In 1943 appeared Asma iroiko ke penthimo ghia ton hameno anthipolochago tis Alvanias, Heroic and Elegiac Song for the Lost Second Lieutenant of the Albanian Campaign.
After the war he wrote critics for the newspaper Kathimerini and worked also for the National Broadcasting Institute. In 1948 he moved to Paris, where he studied literature at the Sorbonne. During this time he became acquainted with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and others of the Paris art world.
In 1953 Elytis returned to Greece and took an active role in cultural affairs. His silence as a poet ended in 1959 with the long poem, To Axion Esti, reminiscent of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself.
Between 1965 and 1968 Elytis served on the administrative board of the Greek National Theater, and spent then the next two years in Paris after the Greek military coup of 1967. In 1978 he published a long poetic work, Maria Nefeli, which was finished when he returned to Greece. In the poem alternating monologues are spoken by a girl and a poet.
He died on March, 18, 1996
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