Η Ποίηση στα ύψη

«The More Loving One» - read by W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

That, for all they care, I can go to hell,

But on earth indifference is the least

We have to dread from man or beast.



How should we like it were stars to burn

With a passion for us we could not return?

If equal affection cannot be,

Let the more loving one be me.



Admirer as I think I am

Of stars that do not give a damn,

I cannot, now I see them, say

I missed one terribly all day.



Were all stars to disappear or die,

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total dark sublime,

Ο Ερρίκος Σοφράς για την ποίηση του Γ.Χ. Ώντεν | LiFO

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W. H. Auden

Epitaph on a Tyrant

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ ΓΙΑ ΕΝΑΝ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟ*

Επεδίωκε κάποιου είδους τελειότητα
και η ποίηση που εφηύρε ήταν απλή, κατανοητή.
Ήξερε σαν την παλάμη του την ανθρώπινη παλαβωμάρα,
κι ενδιαφερόταν τρομερά για στρατούς και στόλους.
Όταν γελούσε, σεβαστοί συγκλητικοί ξεσπούσαν σε γέλια,
κι όταν έκλαιγε, τα μικρά παιδιά πέθαιναν στους δρόμους.

 μετάφραση : Belica-Antonia Kubareli

*Τρία ποιήματα του Γουάιστεν Χιου Όντεν - Diastixo.gr

Wystan Hugh Auden reads 'The Shield of Achilles' (1953)