DINOS KOUBATIS

 

Where Are You Going

 

Figures from the past you pass,

you pass through the present and go.

Breathless bodies, you ask

souls to become again.

In the old square you turn around,

faces rather humble,

only in silence,

-and you know where you're going.

Through a deep slumber you seem to wake up,

you go back to the old days

-with sadness you stand heavy

and you pass.

 

You are shadows on Earth that you don't forget,

you breathe in and out

to where you are going...

Go away... go...

 

Signs Of The Times

 

Somehow the times that have passed have left us empty.

We accepted their influences without compromise

and we thoughtlessly yielded to their unreasonable demands.

We search in vain to find some ideals around us.

The beggars, the pundits, and the keepers,

they suffocate every desire in us

and they tear down inhumanely

some of our hidden ideals.

 

Memories From Ver Lain*

 

Who knows if I've been - I'll say it,

a Verlaine and I or a Rimbaud,

otherwise, why should I write rhyming poems

which remind me of Perisi - and it's a shame

that on a rainy afternoon like this one,

my soul is so similar to time

and he longs so much, for no reason, to return

on a street corner in Paris.

As the rain falls on the roofs above

as a tear drops in the soul,

and as the wind sweeps the leaves,

how my soul, God repays me,

another roof - Verlaine's - and some leaves

where the chill of the wind shakes them,

and how dare I enter the forest of Boulogne,

companion of my soul I am the only one!...

 

At The Train Station

 

Some left and I stayed at the train station

 

to wait in vain for the chimera to cross the tracks.

 

 

The Tear

 

It's not the rain.

It is the tear

dripping on the side of the road.

It is the beginning of the river

which starts from my heart.

 

Good Laugh

 

You have a nice laugh

and it's like inside your lips

let the whole world laugh.

You laugh like a child

and it's like through your eyes

let all the children of our bitter Earth laugh.

 

I Lost You As I Walking

 

I held your hands in my hands

who trembled full of emotion.

I vented my bitterness on your mighty ones

shoulders that looked like a support unshakable in the storms.

I looked into your eyes, your strong gaze

and I took courage to face the world.

And while from your power you gave me an answer,

I lost you as I passed through your power by leaning.

 

DINOS KOUBATIS

 

DINOS KOUBATIS was born in Athens. He studied Theater, French Philology and Journalism. As an actor and director, he has worked in various parts of the world, such as Greece, France, Belgium, Canada, Albania and has won many international awards, such as the "Ionesco International Award" for all his directing work. He has founded the International Theater Festival "Art without Borders", the International Festival of Inter-Balkan Theater, the Experimental Theater Center, and other theatrical organizations. In the field of Letters, he has distinguished himself as a writer, essayist, poet and novelist. One of his essays and three historical novels have become bestsellers and have been nominated for the State Prize for Literature. He has been named Professor of Byzantine Studies at the University of Valencia, is an honorary member of international intellectual institutions and has won many international distinctions and gold medals for his work. His works are the subject of university dissertations at the Universities of Warsaw, Tirana and Zurich. It has been translated in many countries of the world. 32 of his books have been published in Greece, France, Canada, Poland, Kosovo, Albania and Romania, while thirty of his plays have been staged. He has collaborated in newspapers, radio and television. Professor at the Popular University of Athens.