ANGUISH

AGNES SOTIRACOPOULOU-SKINA

(Athens - 502 Greece)

In this hour

Alone, completely alone in the world

After so many years of agony,

So much of passion.

Battles without prudence

Without any plan

Victories and defeats

Lacking all importance.

In this hour

When a dark abyssal curtain

Has shrouded

All my passed life,

I have only one fear:

Not to return

To such conflagration,

To such a catastrophe

As my life has been.

If only I myself were able

To obliterate my memory–

For all my other perceptions

Keep it alive.

– Translated from the Greek by the author and Hugh Mckinley

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