…AXION ESTI thou the bitter
and the alone lost from the start
the Poet working with the knife
in his third hand indelible:
For He is Death and he is Life
The Unforeseen and the Institutions
He’s the plant’s straight line that intersects the body
The lens’s focus that burns the spirit
He is the thirst after the fountain
He is the war after peace
He is Ion regarder of waves
He the Pygmalion of fire and monsters
He the fuse that the lips ignite
The invisible tunnel that outflanks Hades
Sensuality’s Thief who can’t be crucified
The Serpent at one with the Ear of Wheat
He the darkness and the lovely folly
Vernality of the rain of light…
Odysseus Elytis THE AXION ESTI
