AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNCONQUERABLE GREEKS

Joseph Auslander

A poem by Joseph Auslander praises the Greeks for defying the enemies in World
War II. The text of the poem is framed by an illustration depicting a group of Greek
people, some in tattered clothing, some injured or dying, among ancient ruins. Behind
them, on the right, is the Parthenon.
ΑΝΟΙΚΤΗ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΔΟΥΛΩΤΟΥΣ ΈΛΛΗΝΕΣ

Ένα ποίημα του Joseph Auslander επαίνεσε τους Έλληνες διότι αψήφησαν τους
εχθρούς στον Β 'Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο. Το κείμενο του ποιήματος πλαισιώνεται από μια
εικονογράφηση που απεικονίζει μια ομάδα ελληνικών, μερικούς με κατεστραμμένα
ρούχα, κάποια τραυματισμένοι ή πεθαμένοι, ανάμεσα στα αρχαία ερείπια. Πίσω από
αυτούς, στα δεξιά, είναι ο Παρθενώνας.
SCRISOARE DESCHISĂ CĂTRE INVINCIBILII GRECI

De Joseph Auslander

O poezie a lui Joseph Auslander I-a lăudat pe greci pentru sfidarea dușmanilor în cel
de-al doilea război mondial. Textul poemului este încadrat de o imagine care
ilustrează un grup de greci, unii cu haine deteriorate, unii răniți sau morți, printre
ruine antice. În spatele lor, în partea dreaptă, este Partenonul.

Traducere în limba română de Angela Bratsou 03.01.2019

 AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNCONQUERABLE GREEKS
Joseph Auslander

I write this letter to you on my knees

In the night,
O people of a thousand Thermopylaes,
And every word I write,
If it be worthy somehow in your sight—
Sons of Solon, daughters of Pericles—
Will blaze with light.
Regard this letter
As token payment long since overdue
From your eternal debtor—
An echo burning through
The silence and the death piled thick on you
By fire and sword, by famine and by fetter—
An echo of the trumpet Plato blew
Across the darkness that men knew
Not by an honorable foe,
In equal combat, blow for blow,
Under a decent sky,
Beneath the impartial sun,
Were you undone
And left to die.
Ah, no!
But by each slippery ruse
The wolf and buzzard use;
Stalked by that obscene pack
In stealthy and abominable attack
Struck down at last when, faint with hunger,
You could no longer
Stand and strike back
And when you fell, you fell like some great star,
Not broken by defeat or pale surrender,
But falling in dreadful splendour,
Forever falling and falling,
And earth and heaven and the towers of time,
both near and far,
Were shaken with the shouts of terror calling,
And the blood-red wheels of war,
Bright and brawling,
Across the firmament streaked a livid scar.
So you went down; yet, in your dying, cast
A shadow across the craters of the moon as vast
As bright,
ΑΝΟΙΚΤΗ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΔΟΥΛΩΤΟΥΣ ΈΛΛΗΝΕΣ

Του Joseph Auslander

Έγραψα αυτή την επιστολή για σας, πάνω στα γόνατα

Μέσα στη νύχτα,
Ω, λαός των χιλίων Αθάνατων,
Και κάθε λέξη μου που γράφω,
Αν είναι κατά κάποιο τρόπο άξια για το βλέμμα σας
Υιοί του Σόλωνα, κόρες του Περικλή-
Θα είναι χαραγμένη με φως.
Θεωρείτε αυτή την επιστολή
Ως πολυαναμενόμενη συμβολική πληρωμή
Απț τoν αιώνια οφειλέτη σας
Μια ηχώ που καίει
Την σιωπή και το θάνατο που συσσωρεύονται παχείς πάνω σας
Δια πυρός και σιδήρου, με πείνα και χειροπέδες -
Μια ηχώ του Πλάτωνα τρομπέτα φύσηξε
Μέσα από το σκοτάδι που ήξεραν οι άνδρες
Όχι από έναν έντιμο εχθρό,
Σε ίση μάχη, χτύπημα για χτύπημα,
Κάτω από έναν αξιοπρεπή ουρανό,
Κάτω από έναν αμερόληπτο ήλιο,
Όπου ήσασταν κατεστραμμένοι
Και στον θάνατο παρατημένοι.
Αχ, όχι!
Αλλά με κάθε ολισθηρό τέχνασμα
Που ο λύκος και η Γερακίνα χρησιμοποιούν
Καταδιωκόμενοι από το εν λόγω άσεμνο ζευγάρι
Σε φευγαλέα και αποτρόπαια επίθεση
Ηττημένοι επιτέλους, όταν αποδυναμωμένοι από την πείνα,
Δεν έχετε άλλες δυνάμεις να
Σταθείτε και να χτυπήσετε πίσω

Και όταν πέσατε, πέσατε σαν ένα μεγάλο αστέρι,

Που δεν έχει σπάσει από την ήττα ή την χλωμή παράδοση,
Αλλά πέφτοντας με φοβερή μεγαλοπρέπεια,
Παντοτινά πέφτοντας και πέφτοντας,
Και γη και ουρανό και πύργους του χρόνου,
τόσο κοντά όσο και μακριά,
Ανακινήθηκαν με τις κραυγές στις κλήσεις του τρόμου,
Και οι κόκκινο αίματος τροχοί του πολέμου,
Φωτεινοί και φιλόνικοι,
Σε όλο το στερέωμα ράβδωσαν μια πελιδνή ουλή.

Σας έχουν σκοτώσει λοιπόν και όμως στο θάνατο σας, ρίχνετε
Μια σκιά σε όλη τους κρατήρες της σελήνης τόσο απέραντη
Το ίδιο φωτεινή,
SCRISOARE DESCHISĂ CĂTRE INVINCIBILII GRECI
Joseph Auslander

V-am scris această scrisoare pe genunchi

Noaptea,
O, popor al celor o mie de Nemuritori la Thermopyle,
Și fiecare cuvânt scris de mine,
(De va fi cumva demn de privirea voastră)
Fii ai lui Solon, fiice ale lui Pericle-
Va fi scrijelit cu lumină..
Priviți această scrisoare
Ca o plată simbolică și mult așteptată
De la datornicul vostru etern-
Un ecou arzător al
Tăcerii și morții îngrămădite dens pe voi
Prin foc și sabie, prin foamete și cătușe-
Un ecou al trompetei lui Platon a suflat
Prin întunericul știut de oameni
Nu de un dușman cinstit,
În luptă egală, lovitură pentru lovitură,
Sub un cer modest,
Sub soarele imparțial,
Unde ai fi fost distrus
Și lăsat să mori.
A, nu!
Ci, cu o viclenie alunecoasă
De lup și de uliu folosită;
Urmărit de perechea aceasta obscenă
Într-un atac pe furiș și abominabil
Doborât în cele din urmă, atunci când, slăbit de foame,
Nu mai ai putere
Să stai si să ripostezi
Și când ai căzut, ai căzut ca o stea mare,
Neruptă de înfrângere sau searbăda predare,
Însă căzând într-o splendoare îngrozitoare,
Pentru totdeauna căzând, tot căzând,
Și pământul și cerul și turnurile timpului,
Atât de aproape și atât de departe,
S-au zdruncinat de strigătele chemărilor de teroare,
Și roțile războiului, roșii de sânge
Luminoase și gălăgioase,
Peste întreaga boltă au brăzdat o cicatrice lividă.
V-au doborât, deci și totuși, în moartea voastră, aruncați
O umbră peste craterele lunii atât de mare
La fel de strălucitoare,
As the Archangel’s trumpet blast
Of light,
A shadow upon the hearts of men as well,
To stretch our souls from heaven down to hell!
This we declare:
By all men in extremity everywhere,
By earth and water, by fire and air,
We solemnly swear:
Homer is not dead,
The loins that bred
Ulysses will again
Beget such men
(The spirit of Bozzaris, of Byron,
The Mavrocordato breed
Of Iron).
This is our creed:
The sun
That sees
Fascist and Hun
Cleansed from the land of Demosthenes
Will once more in amazement stare upon
The Parthenon!
This, then, is all;
I have said everything:
The wormwood, the gall,
The courage, the suffering;
Nothing can be
As big as agony,
And agony is king, and can speak
Only in Greek.
 
Όπως της του Αρχαγγέλου τρομπέτας έκρηξη
Του φωτός,
Μια σκιά στις καρδιές των ανδρών καθώς και,
Για να τεντώσει τις ψυχές μας από τον ουρανό στην κόλαση!

Αυτό δηλώνουμε:
Με όλους τους άνδρες από τα άκρα παντού,
Με γη και νερό, από φωτιά και αέρα,
Σας ορκιζόμαστε:
Ο Όμηρος δεν είναι νεκρό,
Τα λαγόνια που μεγαλώνουν ξανά
Του Οδυσσέα,
Θα ξαναδημιουργήσουν τέτοιους άνδρες
(Το πνεύμα της Μπότσαρη, του Βύρωνα,
Το γένος του Μαυροκορδάτου
Του Σιδηρού).
Αυτό είναι το πιστεύω μας:
Ο ήλιος
Που βλέπει
Φασίστες και Ούννους
Εξαγνισμένοι από τη γη του Δημοσθένη
Για άλλη μια φορά θα κοιτούν με απορία επάνω
Στον Παρθενώνα!

Αυτό, λοιπόν, είναι όλα.

Έχω πει τα πάντα:
Η αψιθιά, το θράσος,
Το θάρρος, η δυστυχία
Τίποτα δεν μπορεί να είναι
Όσο μεγάλη είναι η αγωνία,
Και η αγωνία είναι βασιλιάς, και μπορεί να μιλήσει
Μόνο στα ελληνικά.
Ca și trompeta Arhanghelului explozivă
De lumină,
O umbră pe inimile oamenilor, precum și,
Să ne întindă sufletele din cer până în iad!
Declarăm aceasta:
Cu toți bărbații de pretutindeni,
Cu pământ și apă, prin foc și prin aer,
Solemn jurăm:
Homer nu este mort,
Coapsele ce-i cresc
lui Ulysse din nou
Vor crea astfel de oameni
(Spiritul lui Botsaris, al lui Byron,
Neamul lui Mavrocordat
Cel de fier).
Aceasta este al nostru crez:
Soarele
Care vede
Fasciști și huni
Purificați de țara lui Demostene
Încă o dată vor privi uimiți
Spre Parthenon!
Asta, deci, este totul.
Am spus totul:
Amarul, îndrăzneala,
Curajul, suferința;
Nimic nu poate fi
La fel de mare ca agonia,
Și agonia este rege, și poate vorbi
Numai în limba greacă.