DEMETER

 Overwhelmed with grief, I speak to you from the besieged city.  The young maiden buried her right foot in flowers and tears that dampened her dress.  She is asleep now, and her swarthy lover is holding her hand as a sign of profound submission.  Ah, how much you loved me, how much this swallow’s nest loved me that answered to the name of Aurora Borealis!
 (I found her in the body now drained of tears, having cursed all the virtues and the various skies.)

VERONIKI DALAKOURA
Translated from the Greek by Yannis Goumas