The Source of Her Tears

by Liana Sakelliou

The source can be a theme,
the woman a theme,
sand and clamshells,
even a hidden vein,
far away from the rolling brook,

humming the song of Fatima Zahra
from Morocco,
the reason for her tears in Sète,
where her love, a flowing spring, has gone.

With one flick of their tails
fish leap high above that spring—
seven fish, alive only
because of her song.

Ἡ πηγὴ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ

Στὸ Τολέδο τὰ δάχτυλα τοῦ Ἕλληνα
ἀκουμποῦσαν τὸ σπίτι ὅπου ἔμενα·
τὸ προαύλιο εἶχε κρήνη
καὶ ἡ Carmen García Márquez ποὺ τῆς ἀνῆκε
μοῦ εἶπε, ἐδῶ μαρτύρησε μιὰ ἁγία στὸν μεσαίωνα.

Νά τὰ ὑπάρχοντά της,
ὅλα πέτρινα.
Ἁγία Πηγὴ ἀποκάλεσε
το νέκταρ
ποὺ ἔζησε στὸ σπίτι της.

Translated by Don Schofield