the sunny point of view

A boat adorned and decked sails out for mountains oh
and there begins maneuvers with heavy-to, heavy -ho

Weighs anchor by a pine tree groove and takes abroad
a cargo of fresh mountain air at lee and port

She's made of blackest stone, she's made of flimsy dream
her boatswain is naive, her sailors plot and scheme

She's come from the deep depths of ancient bygone times
and here unloads her troubles and her trembling sighs.

O come my lord and Jesus, I speak and am struck daft
on such o loony vessel on such a crazy craft

We 've sailed for years on end, and still we' ve kept afloat
we 've changed a thousand skippers on this balmy boat

We never paid the slightest heed to cataclysms
but plunged headlong in everything with optimisms

And high up on our lookout mast we keep for sentry one
who ever and on remain our Sun and Sovereign Sun!


- The Crazy Boat (Odysseas Elytis, from "The Sovereign Sun", trans. Kimon Friar)