Ίδρυμα Ποίησης / Poetry Foundation Το ποίημα είναι ένας μικρός άγγελος από δέντρο κι από στάρι.., Γιώργος Τσακιράκης Κρης / The poem is a little angel from tree and from wheat.., George Tsakirakis Κris

But you always chatter that Charaxus is coming,
His ship laden with cargo. That much, I reckon, only Zeus
Knows, and all the gods; but you, you should not
Think these thoughts,

Just send me along, and command me
To offer many prayers to Queen Hera
That Charaxus should arrive here, with
His ship intact,

And find us safe. For the rest,
Let us turn it all over to higher powers;
For periods of calm quickly follow after
Great squalls.

They whose fortune the king of Olympus wishes
Now to turn from trouble
to [ … ] are blessed
and lucky beyond compare.

As for us, if Larichus should [ … ] his head
And at some point become a man,
Then from full many a despair
Would we be swiftly freed.

Tim Whitmarsh, The Guardian, Πέμπτη, 30 Ιανουαρίου 2014

*

Oh but you keep on rambling that Charaxos is coming,
with a full ship. These things, I guess, Zeus
knows, and all the other gods. But you shouldn't
guess at them;

Instead, (you should) send me and ask me
to make many prayers of Queen Hera
for him to come home, here, guiding safe
his ship, Charaxos

And to find us safe and sound. Other things,
All of them, let us hand over to the gods
For fair weather from great gales
Comes quickly

Those, whom the Lord of Olympos wishes
To send a guardian spirit, relief from toil,
They become blessed
And wealthy

And we, if with his brow unmarked by labor
Larichos should some day become a man,
Would quickly be delivered of a great heaviness of heart

Luther College Classics Department, 29 Ιανουαρίου 2014

---

Μα πάντα φλυαρείς ότι θα έρθει ο Χάραξος
με το καράβι πλήρες. Τούτο —νομίζω— το ξέρει
ο Δίας και όλοι οι θεοί. Εσύ δεν πρέπει αυτό
να το στοχάζεσαι καθόλου,

αλλά να στέλνεις και να με παρακαλάς
την Ήρα τη βασίλισσα θερμά να ικετεύω
ο Χάραξος εδώ να φτάσει,
το πλοίο σου φέρνοντας,

και να μας βρει αβλαβείς. Όλα τα άλλα
στους θεούς ας τα αφήσουμε.
Γοργά η νηνεμία έρχεται
μετά από μεγάλο ανέμου φύσημα.

Αν θέλει ο βασιλιάς του Ολύμπου,
ήδη θεό βοηθό στα βάσανα τους
έστειλε κι εκείνοι ευλογημένοι
και τρισόλβιοι θα 'ναι.

Εμείς, αν μεγαλώσει[*]
ο Λάριχος και γίνει επιτέλους άντρας,
από πολύ βαριά αθυμία
γοργά θα απαλλαγούμε

Από τον Σταύρο Γκιργκένη απ' τη Θεσσαλονίκη,
διδάκτορα κλασικής φιλολογίας, συνεργάτη στη σειρά της αρχαίας ελληνικής γραμματείας των εκδόσεων Ζήτρος, και ερασιτέχνη ποιητή.

Αναρτήθηκε την Πέμπτη 30 Ιανουαρίου 2014
[*] Ο Γκιργκένης υποθέτει γραφή ἀέρρῃ αντί του ἀέργη (= ἀέργῃ), που δίνει ο Obink. Το ἀέρρω είναι λεσβιακή υποτακτική του ἀείρω = υψώνω. Άρα κεφαλάν ἀέρρῃ = (κυριολέκτικά) υψώνει το κεφάλι = (μεταφορικά) κερδίζει ύψος, μεγαλώνει.

---

Πρώτος το μετάφρασε (στις 19 Ιανουαρίου 2014) ο Ιταλός, Φράνκο Φερράρι:

Ma tu non fai che ripetere che Carasso è arrivato
con la nave stracolma: è cosa, credo,
che sanno Zeus e tutti gli dèi, ma non a questo
tu devi pensare,

bensì a congedarmi e invitarmi a rivolgere
molte suppliche a Era sovrana perché
giunga fin qua portando in salvo
la sua nave Carasso

e sane e salve (o ‘sani e salvi’) ci trovi:
tutto il resto affidiamolo ai numi,
ché a grandi tempeste d’improvviso
succede il bel tempo.

Coloro a cui il sovrano d’Olimpo voglia
mandare un demone che infine li protegga
dalle traversie, quelli diventano felici
e molto prosperi.

Anche noi, se alzasse la testa Larico
e diventasse finalmente un vero uomo,
allora sì che saremmo subito liberate (o ‘liberati’)
da molte tristezze.

Franco Ferrari

Ο Γιώργης Γιατρομανωλάκης σημειώνει:

Ο απόηχος έφτασε και σε μας με τα γνωστά τετριμμένα και παραφιλολογικά σχόλια. Σε αυτές τις περιπτώσεις καλό είναι να περιμένουμε να δούμε πρώτα το ίδιο το κείμενο επίσημα δημοσιευμένο και τον σχολιασμό του εκδότη, κάτι που, όπως πληροφορούμαστε, θα γίνει την άνοιξη στο γνωστό φιλολογικό περιοδικό Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Ωστόσο μια μορφή του κειμένου έχει ήδη δημοσιευθεί στο Διαδίκτυο από τον ίδιο τον D. Obbink, πράγμα που μας βάζει στον πειρασμό και να το μεταφράσουμε (να το μεταγράψουμε, θα έλεγε ο Σεφέρης) και να το σχολιάσουμε με κάθε επιφύλαξη και συνεπόμενο ρίσκο. Μια παρατήρηση προτού προχωρήσουμε: δεν έχουμε λόγους να αμφισβητήσουμε τη γνησιότητα του ποιήματος, όμως δεν είναι συνηθισμένος τρόπος να ανοίγει ένα ποίημα με το αλλά, όπως εδώ - εκτός και αν ελλείπουν στίχοι.

But constantly you prattle that Charaxos
has returned with his ship loaded. About that
Zeus knows, I suspect, and all the gods. You must
[………………….]not think of these things,

but come with me and offer many entreaties
to queenly Hera, that she shall give order
that Charaxos reach home, bringing here with him
[………………….]his ship in safety,

and find us unharmed. Let’s turn over all our
other concerns to the powers of heaven.
For after great tempests calm skies develop
[………………….]all of a sudden.

Whenever the king of Olympos decides
to make people’s deity turn helpful now
after toils, they come to be blessed and have
[………………….]loads of resources.

As for us, if Larichos lifts his head up,
and at last becomes in his due time a man,
we would be free of much heavy-heartedness
[………………….]all of a sudden.

RICHARD JANKO

---

There you go windbagging about Charaxos again—will he waft into port?
will he not?—yawn. Let the gods simplify this. Or send me! I’ve got
the holy socks and tang to bring Hera over to our side: presto
Charaxos, cocktails all round!

Now tip all that other worry into the box marked Looking for a Miracle.
Red weather can die away on a dime (as you know)
and if some god blows you a kiss, peacocks sweep the room
handing out coupons.

As for us—if lazyboy Larichos ever lifts his head
and turns into a man who can whistle Dixie,
goodbye family gloom! We’ll run our fingers
through his beard and laugh.

ANNE CARSON

---

You keep going about Charaxos, how
he’s there now, his ship fully laden; but that
only Zeus and all the other gods know—
[………………….]you’re not to know it:

you should be sending me instead out to pray
over again, piously, all the time, to
Hera for Charaxus to come back this way
[………………….]bringing the ship through,

and find us safe here; everything else we must
turn over to higher-powers, for good
weather sometimes carries the very worst
[………………….]storm as a prelude.

When and if the king of Olympos wills it,
help can come from somewhere, and turn things around;
people get rich, fortunate, when it falls out
[………………….]well on the rebound.

Even we—if Larichus should ever get
His head up and make himself known as a man—
may find our bad luck on the turn, and may yet
[………………….]see better fortune.

PETER McDONALD

---

But oh! You harp on—Charaxus is coming,
With his ship, fully-laden! That’s for Zeus,
I’d say, and all the other gods to know,
[………………….]Not you to guess.

Rather, send me to beseech Queen Hera,
And plead and make her many prayers—Please
Let Charaxus arrive here with his ship
[………………….]In one piece

And find us safe and sound. As for the rest,
Let’s leave it to the powers that be. A calm
Immedietely follows in the wake
[………………….]Of a rough storm.

For some, if the King of Olympus wills
To change their lot from troubles to godspeed,
They are the lucky ones, the prosperous,
[………………….]Blessed indeed.

But as for us, if Larichus would lift
His head at last, and play a man’s part,
Then what a cargo of cares at once would drop
[………………….]From the heart.

A.E. STALLINGS