Yannis Ritsos

Yiannis Ritsos: Revealing the face and soul of Greece

Ritsos’ restoration to the totality of his work is an imperative duty to the Greek nation itself, which deserves to regain its unity after nearly forty years of strife, argues Pantelis Prevelakis in these excerpts from his book on the poet.

Yiannis Ritsos: Moonlight Sonata

“…Let me come with you. What a moon there is tonight!
The moon is kind – it won’t show
that my hair turned white. The moon
will turn my hair to gold again. You wouldn’t understand.
Let me come with you.

When there’s a moon the shadows in the house grow larger,
invisible hands draw the curtains,
a ghostly finger writes forgotten words in the dust
on the piano – I don’t want to hear them. Hush…”

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