Kotsiras - Live Της δικαιοσύνης ήλιε νοητέ Lyrics

Στίχοι: Οδυσσέας Ελύτης
Μουσική: Μίκης Θεοδωράκης
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Γρηγόρης Μπιθικώτσης
Άλλες ερμηνείες: Γιώργος Νταλάρας

Της δικαιοσύνης ήλιε νοητέ
και μυρσίνη συ δοξαστική
μη παρακαλώ σας μη
λησμονάτε τη χώρα μου!

Αετόμορφα έχει τα ψηλά βουνά
στα ηφαίστεια κλήματα σειρά
και τα σπίτια πιο λευκά
στου γλαυκού το γειτόνεμα!

Τα πικρά μου χέρια με τον κεραυνό
τα γυρίζω πίσω απ' τον καιρό
τους παλιούς μου φίλους καλώ
με φοβέρες και μ' αίματα!

-----------------------------

Sensible Sun of Justice

Sun of justice, whom we feel *
and you, myrtle branch of glory,
do not, I beg of you
do not forget my country!

It has tall mountains shaped like eagles
the vines in ranks on the volcanoes' flanks
and the houses more white
for the neighbourhood of the azure.

My bitter hands, by thunder
I am turning them back behind the times,
my old friends, I am calling them forth
with threats and with blood!

Translator's note: Ι have been asked several times to translate this song. I have refused because the Αξιον εστί can not be translated. Its essence and its language are essentially one. So I said "can't". However. I was asked again. The request - for this specific song - came from the united states of america, a few days after Bush's re-election. Under the circumstances, I felt that any tiny portion of the meaning that I could get across would be better than nothing. So, "though it's always dangerous to translate Elytis" as a friend of mine put it a long time ago... May the poet forgive me! Geske.

* the adjective νοητός is related to νους (mind, understanding) and to νοήμα (meaning, sense). It means "that which one can understand/know (with the mind), perceive/feel (with the senses)".
I have so far not found a word in English (or any other language) that covers all this. The first meaning of "sensible" (which I've used in the t__le) actually was "perceptible by the senses", but this has largely gone out of use.
So, this is why I put a different translation each time for νοητέ. I wouldn't do that in a translation to be read without the original, but in this case you can all see (hear) that they are the same word really.
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