Το Δάσος | Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος, 1970
Διονύσης Γιάκος, Ο Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος, 1947
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Το Δάσος
Δεν ξεριζώνονται οι νύχτες από μέσα μας,
βλασταίνουν φύλλα και κλαδιά
κι έρχονται τα πουλιά του έρωτα και κελαηδούνε.
Δεν ξεριζώνονται οι νύχτες από μέσα μας,
οι σπόροι τους φυτρώνουν δάσος σκοτεινό,
στις λόχμες του ο φόβος ενεδρεύει.
Ζώα μικρά και ζώα άγρια το κατοικούν,
όχεντρες έρπουν και ρημάζουν τις φωλιές μας,
λιοντάρια ετοιμάζονται να μας ξεσκίσουν.
Δεν ξεριζώνονται οι νύχτες από μέσα μας,
έγιναν δάσος σκοτεινό και μας πλακώνουν.
Ντίνος Χριστιανόπουλος
συλ. Ὁ Ἀλλήθωρος, 1970
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there.
I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.
But after I had reached a mountain's foot,
At that point where the valley terminated,
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,
Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet's rays
Which leadeth others right by every road.
Then was the fear a little quieted
That in my heart's lake had endured throughout
The night, which I had passed so piteously.
The Divine Comedy / Inferno / Canto I / Dante Alighieri / c. 1308-1320
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