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Sürgün Günlükleri

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Çağdaş dünya edebiyatının en önemli şairlerinden Yannis Ritsos Sürgün Günlükleri’ni yazmaya İç Savaş’tan sonra 1948 sonbaharında toplumcu siyasal görüşleri yüzünden gönderildiği Limnos Adası’ndaki Kondopuli Kampı’nda başladı, 1949 yılının sonlarında aktarıldığı Makronisos Kampı’nda devam etti. Zorlu kamp koşullarında hayatın kaydını tutmak üzere yazdığı şiirler bu dönemde yaşananları bütün dünyaya ilan eden bir günlüğe dönüştü. Kamplarda dayatılan pişmanlık dilekçesini inatla imzalamayan Ritsos Sürgün Günlükleri ile sadece yol arkadaşlarının değil, umudunun ve inancının da sesini yıllar ötesine taşıdı.

114 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

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432 people want to read

About the author

Yiannis Ritsos

288 books297 followers
Yiannis Ritsos (Greek: Γιάννης Ρίτσος) is considered to be one of the five great Greek poets of the twentieth century, together with Konstantinos Kavafis, Kostas Kariotakis, Giorgos Seferis, and Odysseus Elytis. The French poet Louis Aragon once said that Ritsos was "the greatest poet of our age."

Yannis Ritsos was born in Monemvassia (Greece), on May 1st, 1909 as cadet of a noble family of landowners. Born to a well-to-do landowning family in Monemvasia, Ritsos suffered great losses as a child. The early deaths of his mother and his eldest brother from tuberculosis, the commitment of his father who suffered with mental disease and the economic ruin of losing his family marked Ritsos and affected his poetry. Ritsos, himself, was confined in a sanatorium for tuberculosis from 1927–1931.

These tragic events mark him and obsess his œuvre. In 1931, Ritsos joined the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–1945) he became a member of the EAM (National Liberation Front), and authored several poems for the Greek Resistance. These include a booklet of poems dedicated to the resistance leader Ares Velouchiotis, written immediately upon the latter's death on 16 June 1945. Ritsos also supported the left in the subsequent Civil War (1946-1949); in 1948 he was arrested and spent four years in prison camps.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Paula Mota.
1,634 reviews561 followers
January 3, 2023
Diários do Exílio, edição portuguesa das Edições do Saguão, Setembro 2022

17 de Novembro
Acendemos um lume com ramos secos,
aquecemos água, tomámos banho nus
ao ar livre. Fazia vento. Tivemos frio. Rimo-nos.
Talvez não fosse de frio. Mais tarde
ficou uma amargura. De certeza que os meus gatos,
do lado de fora da casa trancada, vão subir às janelas,
arranhar as portadas. E não seres capaz
de lhes escrever uma ou duas palavras para lhes explicar,
para que não julguem que os esqueceste. Não seres capaz.

- Diário do Exílio I

Quem pensa nas ilhas gregas, suspira decerto por férias em terreolas pitorescas e praias divinais, e não as associa a locais de encarceramento e repressão. O poeta Yannis Ritsos, porém, conheceu o lado lúgubre do mar Egeu, onde passou cerca de quatro anos, entre 1948 e 1952, em campos de reeducação pelos seus ideais comunistas.
São três os diários escritos neste exílio, mas foi o primeiro que me impressionou particularmente pelo seu registo mais diarístico do que poético, enquanto nas duas outras a poesia se sobrepõe ao relato diário.

5 de Dezembro
Rapaz com a barba por fazer, desgrenhado, banho por tomar
na chamada da manhã com nuvens por companhia
camisola grená calças desabotoadas
ainda ensonado – um pedaço do sono a desfazer-se no cabelo
uma canção amarga no bolso
vou pentear-te, vou lavar-te, vou-te apertar o cinto
vou reaver todas as palavras que me tiraram
as palavras que ninguém me sabe dar
as palavras que não posso pedir

- Diário do Exílio II

Não tenho pretensões de imaginar sequer o que é viver em cativeiro ou em isolamento, mas sinto que apesar da morte, da tortura e das condições sub-humanas destes campos de prisioneiros, a alma pode resistir pela escrita confessional, pelo companheirismo e pela beleza das coisas simples, como já vi acontecer no caso de Etty Hillesum anos antes, noutro extremo da Europa, e agora com Yannis Ritsos.

24 de Maio
Escrevemos testamentos tão bonitos
nunca abertos
nunca lidos por ninguém
porque não chegámos a morrer.

Dissemos coisas
que só se dizem uma vez
Demos coisas
que só se dão uma vez.

Grandes palavras
tão simples
como as colheres nas sacolas
dos que foram mortos.

Vimos a eternidade
reflectida de corpo inteiro
nos óculos do míope
que mataram há dois meses.

E agora, repara.
como é já não conseguires pronunciar
“n ó s”
sem baixares os olhos
sem corares.

- Diário de Exílio III

[Em havendo próxima edição, e espero que sim, ela beneficiaria bastante com uma passagem pelo spelling]
Profile Image for ريم الصالح.
Author 1 book1,282 followers
January 20, 2020
لقد كانت رحلةً هائلة!
وهذا ما لم أتوقعه..
رغم الحاجز الذي يحس به قارئ الشعر المترجم
إلا أن في هذه المجموعة حالة خاصة تغوص في العمق الإنساني، لتتناوله كقضية حقيقية محسوسة، لم تستطع الترجمة أن تحجبه.

كحال الشعر المترجم، هناك الكثير من الحشو
الذي قد لا يبدو شعريا، وذلك بفعل الترجمة واستبدال اللغة
وغياب عامل الموسيقى اللغوية والطرب السمعي.
ولكن، هنا تظهر الحالة الشعرية التي تثيرني شخصيا!
الحالة التي تتوحد بالشاعر، وتتلبّسه تماما ليصبح ما يكتبه شعراً بما يحمله من زخم الحالة، حتى لو غابت اللغة.

كأن يقول:
" كلّ حينٍ يسقطُ نجمٌ
أو صوتٌ عميقٌ جداً،
بينما هو يستندُ على درابزين الشُّرفةِ
أو قبضةِ يدٍ (إن كانت هناك يدٌ)
خشيةَ أن ينهار داخلَ نفسه.

الأكثرُ إخلاصاً ليدهِ هي يدهُ الأخرى.
ولكن في هذه الحالة يداه مُرفقتان ضِمن دائرةٍ ليس بمقدورهِ تحمّلها.
فيمدُّ يديه على وسعهما
كما لو أنّه على وشكِ احتضانِ شخصٍ ما
أو لموازنةِ نفسهِ
وهكذا، مثل راقصٍ على حبلٍ، ينظر أمامه مباشرةٍ ويسند نفسه بسهولةٍ على عُمقه."

لقد كانت هذه القراءة بوقتها تحديداً.
Profile Image for Edita.
1,579 reviews588 followers
April 19, 2020
Under the lukewarm water of night I held
the hand of sleep and the sense of forgetting
the texture of the blanket and of the wall.
If you lift the sheet
you won’t find me.
Try to find me – don’t you understand?
I’m deeper in.
*
And suddenly
a memory of birds
that sank into the unknown.
*
How easily every single thing can be crushed.
[...]
We’ve gotten used to the sleepless nights
to sleep shattered like broken windowpanes
*
Strange weather – almost like summer.
Sunshine hangs in sheets from the bare-branched almond
trees.
Scattered clouds in the bright sky like large censored
postcards
Profile Image for Jonfaith.
2,137 reviews1,736 followers
July 3, 2024
Of course all this doesn’t make a poem
And here I toss it onto the page like a useless stone on the stones
That will maybe someday help to build a house


Stunning poems written in wretched conditions. The poet was imprisoned at numerous locations (seemingly each one worse than the last) after the Greek Civil War just after WWII. Conveniently the Nazis had constructed numerous installations ready to be repurposed to postwar realities. The author found the key to survival was to keep busy, so he wrote letters and fashioned this diary of verse. I found it profoundly moving and human.
Profile Image for Elena Sala.
495 reviews93 followers
May 15, 2020
In October 1944, the German army which had been occupying Greece retreated. During the war, the Greek government and the army had themselves retreated from Greece when the Germans first arrived, however, the Greek resistance, which was predominately communist, harassed the occupiers from their camps in the mountains as well as in the cities. When the country was finally liberated, the Greek government returned with George Papandreou as Prime Minister sharing power with the left in a government of national unity.

Unfortunately, it had been decided beforehand in Yalta by the leaders of the USA, Great Britain and The Soviet Union when they divided up Europe, that Greece was not going to be allowed to fall under the influence of the communists. So in 1946 while the rest of Europe was celebrating the peace after WW2 and trying to get back on their feet, Greece had entered another period of misery as civil war erupted. The British backed the most reactionary of the Greeks and he leftist parties of the KKE, ELAS and EPON were outlawed. Military tribunals were set up all over the country. Thousands of leftists were executed. 50,000 were imprisoned and tens of thousands were exiled to remote islands. One of the political prisoners sent to a remote island was my father. Another one, Yannis Ritsos (1909-1999), a prolific and greatly acclaimed poet, author of DIARIES OF EXILE, translated by the great Karen Emmerich and Edmund Keeley.

Ritsos was imprisoned first during the civil war, and then during the regime of the Colonels, another horribly dark period of Greek history. Much of the poetry on which his worldwide reputation now rests was written during this period. This volume includes three diaries in poetry written between 1948 and 1950.

Other than one censored letter per month, Ritsos was not allowed to write while in prison. But whenever he managed to evade the surveillance of the guards he quietly wrote his poems. He wrote on toilet paper, on paper saved from cigarette boxes, any scrap he could find. He hid his poems in bottles which he buried in the earth, some he smuggled out of prison. In these poems he confronts his tormentors who tried to force him to resign his political ideas so that he might go free. They are mostly vignettes, impressions and unexpected juxtaposed images which produce a mesmerizing effect on the reader. They alternate between despair and the stubborn hope that freedom will triumph and art will redeem.

Archipelago Books is an independent non-profit press which deserves more of our support in these difficult times. They publish world literature, classic and contemporary, mostly in translation (amazingly, four of the books in their catalogue belong to Greek literature). And the physical tomes are just so beautiful! I am so grateful for this moving book, my first encounter with the poetry of Ritsos.
Profile Image for Anastasia.
45 reviews47 followers
January 23, 2019
Όλα ξεχάστηκαν πριν ειπωθούν,
 Κι η σιωπή δεν είναι καταφύγιο .
Profile Image for Nikos Vlachakis.
63 reviews20 followers
April 13, 2018
Ο φρουρός κάθεται πίσω απ’ το σύρμα
με τα πέτα της χλαίνης σηκωμένα.
Προχτές πρόσεξα τα χέρια του
είναι χοντρά και δυνατά
θάχε κρατήσει τη σημαία σε μια δική μας παρέλαση.

Τώρα κάθεται πίσω απ’ το όπλο του
σαν πίσω απόναν τοίχο.
Πίσω απ’ τον τοίχο κάθεται η άνοιξη –
δεν μπορεί να τη δει.
Εγώ τη βλέπω και χαμογελάω
κι είμαι λυπημένος
που δεν μπορεί να τη δει.
Εγώ που μούχει δέσει σαν μαύρο μαντίλι
τη σκιά του ντουφεκιού του γύρω στα μάτια
θέλω να δει την άνοιξη και να χαμογελάσει.
Profile Image for Imen  Benyoub .
181 reviews44 followers
July 1, 2019
Under the lukewarm water of night I held
the hand of sleep and the sense of forgetting
the texture of the blanket and of the wall.
If you lift the sheet
you won’t find me.
Try to find me – don’t you understand?
I’m deeper in..
Profile Image for Anoud.
17 reviews
November 27, 2023
Quotes:
November 5

I know that many consider me an enemy.
But those who love me are more
And they are better.
I am indebted to both.

But I still can’t find the word
That would suffice for both them and me. Which is how
I know my debts are multiplying.
How could my song reach that far
If I didn’t get there first?

November 6

The words are narrow, our beds are narrow --
You can’t turn onto your other side.

Well then - must we really be so sad
In order to love one another?

November 9

Tonight we learned that we have to be happy
In order to love one another.


And then
The masquerading mouse would take fright and go hungry all night.


November 9 - Evening

Whatever they say, we know
That bread is always bread and what’s right is right.

November 11

And they don’t know who loves them and whom they love
And the inner silence of the turtle still has no meaning.

November 12

Everything has stopped like a murdered man’s watch.

November 13

Of course all this doesn’t make a poem
And here I toss it onto the page like a useless stone on the stones
That will maybe someday help to build a house
Profile Image for Rüçhan.
372 reviews7 followers
Read
July 11, 2025
Bir şiir kitabını puanlamak ne derece doğru bilmiyorum. Hele ki benim gibi şiirle arası pek hoş olmayan birinin bunu yapmaması daha isabetli. Şiir çok güçlü duyguları bir cümleyle anlatmakla başarılı olabiliyorsa, Ritsos'un pek çok dizesinde bunu hissettim.

"Ama sadece ölmek için
gelmedik bu dünyaya.
Gün ağarırken
limon kabuğu kokusu geldiğine göre."
Profile Image for Magdi.
281 reviews85 followers
October 28, 2022
مختارات:

"تحتَ كلَّ كلمةٍ
ثمَّةَ شخصٌ ميَّتٌ."
————————-
"الكلماتُ الَتي وَجَدْناها ذاتَ يومٍ جميلةٌ
تضاءلتْ مثلَ صدريَّةِ رَجُلٍ عجوزٍ في صُنُدوقٍ كَبيرٍ.
مثلَ غُروبِ أعتمَ عَلَى زُجاجِ النَّوافِذِ."
——————-
"الوجوهُ تتغيَّرُ عندِما تنظرُ إليها
وربَّما أنتَ تتغيَّرُ أيضًا ـ لأنَّكَ تنظر ُفي يديك.
فتدركُ أنهما اعتادَتا على هذِهِ المهامِ
على هذهِ الأيَّامِ، على هذهِ الشراشِفِ
إنَّهما تَعرِفانِ خَشَبَ الطاولةِ، تعرفانِ المصباحَ
تتحركانِ بالطريقةِ نفسِها بيقينٍ كبير.
فهُما لا تَتَفاجَأنِ أبدًا."
——————————————
"الزمنُ بالنسبةِ لي لحسابِ مَدَاخِيلي وإنفاقي.
لم أكنْ جيَّداً في الحسابِ أبداً. صرتُ أخلطُ.
أعرفُ أن الكثيرينَ يرونَني عدوَّاً.
ولكنَّ الذينَ يحبُّونني أكثرُ
وأفضلُ.
أنا مدينٌ لِكليهِمَا.
ولكن ما زلتُ لا أستطيعُ العثورَ على الكَلِمةِ
التي تكفي لي ولِكليهما. مَا الطريقةُ؟
أعرفُ أنَّ دُيوني تتضاعَفُ.
كيفَ يُمكنُ لأُغْنِيَتي أنْ تَبْلُغَ ذَلِكَ البَعيد.
إن لمْ أصِلْ إلى هُنَاك أوَّلا؟
غَداً أو في اليوم الذي يليهِ سنتحدَّثُ ثانيةً. الآنَ
أَنا أراقبُ تغيُّرَ لونِ المساءِ على صَفْحتي.
غصنٌ يخدَّشُ خدَّي بِظفرِه.
حَتَّى ذلكَ الحينِ، لا تزالُ للبهجةِ جُذورٌ."
———————————
"رَأينَا الليلةَ الماضيَّةَ بأعينِنا
الذينَ أضاءَوا بعضَ الفوانيسِ الصغيرة على الخَزَانة.
مَا جَدوى الكتابةِ لنا الآن.
هذه الليلة تعلَّمْنا من جديدٍ.
بعضَ الأشياءِ التي لا يمكنُ للقَلَمِ تعليمُها.
تَعلَّمنا الليلةَ أنَّنا يَنْبَغِي أن نكونَ سُعداءَ
أطفأنا المصابيح على عجل
ليحبَّ بَعضُنا البعض.
أطفأنا المصابيحَ على عَجَلٍ واضْطَجعنا
لأنَّنا كنَّا سعداءَ جِدَّاً أنَّ لَدينا
مَا يلجمُ أَسْنانَنا كي لا نصرخَ."
———————————
"كلُّ الأيدي التي صافَحَت يَدي هي القَسَمُ،
الذي لا يُمكنُ للمطرِ أن يمحوهُ.
أنا الأمُّ لِعددٍ لا يُحصى من الأطفالِ.
أجلسُ في المَطر وأنادِي : «أطفالي أطفالي»
وأنا طفلُ الأطفالِ، وبحاجةٍ
لأن أخفضَ قَامتي أكثرَ،
حتَّى أتمكَّنَ من دُخُولِ خيامِ «مودروس»
ثمَّ أنهضُ إلى علوَّ عيونِهم،
وأمسحُ المطرَ من حُدودِهم
بالسهولةِ نفسِها التي تُصبحُ فيها الشمسُ والمطرُ أورَاقاً."

* مودروس: مدينة في جزيرة(ليمنوس) في اليونان
——————————————
"هذهِ الليلةُ أمَّي ـ قالَ،
دثَّرِيني بشعركِ الأسودِ
المليءِ مثلي بنجومِكِ
نعيشُ إذلالَ
عَدَمِ الموتِ.
(كانَ يتحدَّثُ إلى نفسِهِ، مُواجِهًا الجِدَارَ.
لكنَّهُ تحدَّثَ بوُضوحٍ
ربَّما يأملُ أن أحَداً ما يَسمَعُ.)"

- معسكر اعتقال السجناء السياسيين كونتوبولي، ليمنوس، 1948 ـ 49
- —————————————-
"أرحتُ فَمِي على ذِاكراكِ
أقمتُ طقوسَ اليقظةِ للألمِ والمُتعةِ
بينَ أربع شُموع
من السُّطُورِ الْمُطْفأة."
————————————-
"أراحَ جبينَهُ
على طاولةٍ عليها خَبْزٌ
هادئاً كتمثالٍ
بين المجدِ والموتِ."
—————————
لَدَى القَمَرِ
العديدُ من الغُرفِ غَيرِ المُؤجَّرةِ.
أَلِهَذَا السَّببِ ؟
أَلِهَذَا؟
—————————
"أريدُ أن أمنحَ الأشياءَ معنى لا تمتلكُهُ.
رجلٌ بذقنهِ
طاولةٌ ليست شجرةً.
مقبضُ البابِ كان دَافِئاً
مرَّةً مثلَ اليدِ
ولكن في تلكَ الليلةِ والتاليةِ
كان القمرُ بالتلعثُمِ نفسِهِ."
————————————-
كُلّ شيء نُسِيَ قبلَ أن يُقالَ.
والصمتُ ليسَ مأوى.
——————
في الليلِ تجمَّعَ أولئكَ القَتلَى
مَعَاً تحتَ الأحجَارِ
وفي عُلَبِ سَجائرِهِم بعضُ الملاحظاتِ
بعضُ القصاصاتِ الورقيَّةِ المخربشةِ محشورةٌ في أحذِيتِهِم بعضُ النجومِ المحظورةِ في عيونِهِم.
وفوقَهَمُ تزدادُ السماءُ اتساعاً
تزدادُ اتساعَاً وعُمقاً
لا تَتعبُ أَبَدَاً."
————————————-
كتبت كيتي:
هاجَ الوردُ في حديقتِكَ
الأقحوانُ الأصفرُ والأبيضُ،
الطويلُ مثلُكَ.
غسلنَا النوافِذَ والثريَّا
غُرفتُكَ تعبقِ برائحةِ الصابونِ
لاطفتُ ملابِسَكَ وكُتُبَك.
آهٍ كيتي
نحنُ هنُا
على حافَّةِ منديلِنا
مقيَّدينَ بإحكامٍ كعُقدَةِ عَهدِنا للعَالم."
——————————————————
"هُنا حيثُ تعبتَ حتَّى الألَم
العزلةُ أكثرُ يقيناً.
ولا يمكنُّك أن تُخفي عن عَينيكَ
امرأةً عاريةً
جاثيةً وسطَ غُرفةٍ
والدرفاتُ مغلقةٌ
تَنتفُ صَفراً جميلاً
تجرَّبُ ريشَهُ على قبَّعتِها
أمامَ المرآةِ على الخَزَانةِ القَديمة.
حركاتٌ طفيفةٌ، طفيفة
تراقبُها.
طفيفةٌ جداً
إنَّكَ تَعرفُ: الليلُ يأتي
وستكونُ غاضِبَاً جداً."
—————————————-
كتبنا الكثير من الوصايا اللطيفة
لم تفتح أبداً
وڈور
لا أحد قرأها
لأننا لم نمت.
قلنا أشياء
أن الشخص يقول مرة واحدة فقط.
أعطينا أشياء
أن الشخص يعطي مرة واحدة فقط.
كلمات عظيمة
بسيطة جداً
مثل الملاعق في حقائب الظهر
لأولئك القتلى.
رأينا الأبدية
معكوسة رأساً على عقب
في نظارات الرجل حسير النظر
المقتول قبل شهرين.
وفكر فقط كيف سيكون الأمر
إن لم يكن ممكناً أن تنطق
(نحن)
دون أن تنزل عينيك
ودون خجل."
________________

عودةُ الهارب

كَانَ يَشْعرُ بِالْقَلَقِ في الأيَّامِ الأَخِيرَةِ ،
كَمَا لَوْ أَنَّهُ خَفِيرٌ هَاربٌ
تَركَ المدينةَ بِلا حِراسة.
لفترة طويلةٍ
ظَلَّ يَخْشَى أَنْ يَكْتَشِفُوا انشقاقَهُ
وبأنَّ المدينةَ ربَّما سقَطَت بسببِ خَطَئِه.
هاربًا مُتواريًا في الأدغالِ لمْ يكُنْ قادِرًا على رؤيةِ الجدرانِ ، سِوى تخيَّلِ هَضَبةٍ مِنْ عَواقبَ مُخيَّفةٍ للمواطنينَ
المتروكينَ بِلَا حِمَايةٍ.
وقبلَ كلَّ شيءٍ لِنَفْسِهِ.
فِيما بعدُ، عَلمَ أَنَّ المدينةَ لم تسْقُطْ،
وأَنَّ أَحَدًا لَم يُلَاحِظْ غيابَهُ وأنَّهم لَم يَبْحثُوا عَنهُ بِالمرَّةِ.
ولم يُدرج اسمُهُ في قوائِمِ النَّاجينِ، أو في عِدادِ اَلْمَفْقُودِينَ.
سَكِينةٌ كبيرةٌ تنتشرُ حولَهُ بِلَا جَدوى.
والآنَ، هَذَا مَا عَذَّبهُ تَحْدَيدًا
السكينةُ التي طَالَمَا حَلَمَ بِهَا.
عِنْدَ الغَسقِ، أَحَسَّ حولَ مِأواهُ
بِآلافٍ من اَلظلالِ التي تمرُّ مثلَ اَلْقِطَطِ الضالَّةِ بين الشوكِ في ساحةِ الملعبِ المَهجورةِ.
وفي خِزَانةِ ملابِسهِ
أحسَّ بالبدلاتِ المُعلَّقة المُترهلةِ، مثلَ الملابسِ المسلوخةِ من الجُثَثِ.
ثمَّ شدِّ أحزمةَ الرَّصاصِ على شَكْلِ صليبٍ حولَ صَدْرِهِ
كَأَنَّهُ يؤمَّنُ على صرَّةِ تجهيزاتهِ المهمَّة.
ثمَّ ظَهَرَ في نُقْطَةِ الحِرَاسةِ في الوقتِ المحدَّد تمَامًا.
—————————
العقاب

يوماً ما، يَنتقمُ الزمنُ
نيابةً عن جميعِ الناسِ الساخطين،
يوماً مَا
الثرثارونَ الجميلونَ ذَوو الشَعورِ المُجعَّدَةِ
والشواربِ السوداءِ يعاقبونَ.
ذوو الأجسادِ المفتولةِ العضلاتِ، والأَيدِي الضَّخمَةِ، وَالأَساورُ الجِِلديَّةُ على
أرساغِهِم اليُسرَى
الذينَ في السُفنِ أو محطَّاتِ البنزينِ بغليوناتِهم الطويلةِ الذينَ يرقصونَ ليالي السبتِ رَقصَةَ «زيمبيكيكوس» الحزينةِ بالجُفُونِ المُجهَدةِ وبالسكَّينِ
الذينَ ساعاتُهم من الذَّهبِ ولا يتحقَّقونَ أبداً من الزمن. سيُعاقبونَ.
الشحمُ سيتدلَّى مِن بطونِهم. وتدريجياً تتساقطُ شعورُهُم
مِن أفخاذِهِم وسيقانِهم.
تغادرُ السُفنُ. ولا تقلُّهُم.

ليلةً مَا
بلمحةِ عينٍ حولاءَ شاحبةٍ
وسطَ ساحةٍ مُضاءةٍ بِالكَامِلِ
يَرونَهُ عابراً
هو الذي ما زالَ يَحتفظُ
بالابتسامةِ الصادقةِ الجميلةِ بمرارةٍ أكثر.
الحياةُ والأغنياتُ
نَسوها كلُّهم وَهوَ يَصفرُ وَحدَه.
أسوأُ مِن هذا كُلَّهِ
أنَّهم لا يَفهمونَ عقابَهم القاسي
ولَهَذا
يَشِيخونَ أسرعَ وأكثرَ
في بيوتِهم الوسخةِ مَعَ
العناكبِ القَدِيمةِ.
——-——————-

مُتحف الفاتيكان

"دَافِنشي، ورافائيل، ومايكل أنجلو - كيفَ نَقَشُوا السَّماواتِ العُظمَى في الوجهِ البشريَّ، في الجسدِ البشريَّ
أظافرَ القَدَمينِ وأظافرَ اليَدَينِ، والأوراقَ، والنُّجومَ، والحَلَماتِ، والأَحلامَ، والشَّفاهَ
بالأحمرِ والأزرقِ الفاتحِ الملموسِ ولا يُصَدَّقُ.
ربَّما مِن تلامُسِ هذينِ الأصبعينِ وُلِدَ العالمُ مِن جديدٍ. المسافةُ بينَ هذينِ الأصبعينِ ما زالت تَقِيسُ بِدقَّةٍ جاذبيةَ الأرضِ ومَدَاهَا.

لا أَستطيعُ تحَمُّلَهُ ـ قالَ ـ
الكثيرُ من الجمالُ والكثيرُ من القَدَاسةِ الشرّيرة.
سَأَخرجُ إلى الشرفةِ البيضاءِ وأدخَّنُ خمسَ عشرةَ سيجارةً بالتتابعِ،
متَعَجُّباً مِن مَشهدِ رُوما مِن الأعلى
ناظراً إلى الحَافِلاتِ الكبيرةِ في الأَسفَلِ
وَهيَ تُنزِلُ مجموعاتِ السيَّاحِ أمامَ المُتحفِ
كاسِرَاً بأصابعي في جيب بنطالي
حفنةً مِن المسواكِ المسروقِ، كَما لو أنَّني أَكسرُ كُلَّ الصُّلبانِ الخشبيَّةِ حيثُ صُلِبت كُلُّ الرغباتِ البشريَّة."
—————————-

القبول

"مُنهزِماً أمامَ الأزرقِ الفاتحِ
يَتكئُ برأسهِ على رُكَبِ الصَّمتِ
مُتعباً جدَّاً من الحياةِ
مُتعباً جدَّاً من الشبابِ
غارقاً بِنَارِه
والطحالبُ تتحركُ تحتَ إبطِه -
موجةُ اليومِ لَم تَجد صلابةً
ولا حتَّى على حَصَاةِ فِكرِه.
في النهايةِ،
كَانَ مُستعدَّاً للحبَّ
وللموتِ."
_____________________
Profile Image for Emre.
290 reviews41 followers
Read
November 7, 2022
Serpil Güvenç | Kardeş Ülkenin Yoldaş Ozanı: Yannis Ritsos

https://haber.sol.org.tr/yazar/kardes...


Artık hiçbir şeyi saklayamıyoruz.
Burada her şeyin içi dışına çıkıyor
yatmadan önce çıkardığımız kirli bir çorap gibi
ve ayaklarımız çıplak, yüzlerimiz de öyle. Sf:6

Bir ağaç diktim. Yetiştireceğim.
Ne olursa olsun geri dönmeyeceğim. Sf:54

Sonunda
kopmuş ellerini
gösteriyor sana ayna
zaferini
alkışlayacak ellerin olmasa da. Sf:85

Bir gemi giderken diğeri geliyor
bir adam gelirken diğeri gidiyor
en nihayetinde ölüm nerede bitiyor?

Kül ateşi örtüyor
bayrak da öldürülmüş olanı.
Galip gelen yenilen
bayrağın altında ya da bayraksız
ölü.
Hiç öğrenmeyeceksin pişman olup olmadığını. Sf:107

Bir sürü güzel vasiyetname yazdık
hiçbir zaman açılmadılar
hiç okunmadılar
çünkü biz ölmedik.

Bir kişinin sadece bir kez söyleyeceği
şeyleri söyledik
bir kişinin sadece bir kez vereceği
şeyleri verdik.

Bu kadar basit
büyük laflar
öldürülenlerin
torbalarındaki kaşıklar gibi.

İki ay önce öldürülen
miyop adamın gözlüğünde
boydan boya yansıdığını gördük
sonsuzluğun.

Ve düşün
artık "biz" kelimesini
gözlerini yere çevirmeden
yüzün kızarmadan
söyleyemiyorsun. Sf:123



Profile Image for Katerina Pavlakou.
15 reviews
June 22, 2023
Ποιητική συλλογή του Γιάννη Ρίτσου από την περίοδο που ήταν εξόριστος στην Μακρόνησο.
Το έργο χωρίζεται σε τρία ημερολόγια με ατιτλα ποιήματα που γράφονται σε σχεδόν καθημερινή βάση, από την παραμονή ως την αποδέσμευσή του. Τα έργα του ξεκινούν παρατηρησιακά για να μετατραπούν σε έναν ισχυρό δεσμό με τους συγκρατούμενους του και την επαφή με τους δεσμώτες του.
Δεδομένου ότι τα συγκεκριμένα ποιήματα γράφονταν σε πραγματικό χρόνο μέρα με τη μέρα, είμαι συγκλονισμένη από το βιβλίο και κυρίως από την ευαισθησία και τον ανθρωπισμό ενός προσώπου που είναι στην εξορία. Βλέπουμε τη σκέψη του να προχωρά και να εξελίσσεται κάθε μέρα, να επισκέπτεται σκέψεις που έκανε τους περασμένους μήνες και να τις συνθέτει, μαθαίνουμε για τους συγκρατούμενους του και τι τους συνέβαινε στο στρατόπεδο.
Παρότι στο 2ο ημερολόγιο που τα ποιήματα του είναι πιο αφαιρετικά γραμμένα ένιωσα ένα χασιμο, όταν το βιβλίο τελείωνε δε μου είχε μείνει κανένα τέτοιο συναίσθημα, αντιθέτως ήμουν ιδιαίτερα συγκινημένη.
Το ποίημα της 26ης Μαΐου είναι το προσωπικό μου αγαπημένο.
Profile Image for David Burns.
431 reviews5 followers
August 26, 2021
January 25

For a moment we took refuge
against the latrine wall.
The wind was cutting.
An old man stared at a cloud.
I looked at him smiling
in the light of that cloud—so peaceful,
so far removed from desire and pain—
I was jealous.
Old people agree with the clouds.
And it’s taking us a long time to get old.

-Yiannis Ritsos ** Diaries of Exile ** Read in Port Sudan, Sudan (August 2021)
Profile Image for Sena Nur Işık.
Author 11 books1,135 followers
March 1, 2024
✨10/10✨

Sürgüne giden bir şairin orada günlük tutar gibi her gün şiir yazması, sürgün kampında neler yaşadığını okumamız harikaydı! Bayıldım! Sadece tek bir satırla gözlerim doldu. Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim.
Profile Image for Sevim Tezel Aydın.
797 reviews54 followers
November 1, 2022
Bir bulutu
geyiğe benzetmek istiyorum.
Yapamıyorum.
Zamanla güzel yalanlar
azalıyor.
Profile Image for A. Raca.
768 reviews169 followers
November 25, 2023
"Dudaklarımı hatırana dayadım
acı ve haz yüzünden gece uyanık kaldım
sönmüş mısraların
dört mumu arasında."
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
107 reviews48 followers
October 15, 2021
"a stunning sunset
so violet, so gold, so rosy.
We stood there. We watched. We
talked
alone, alone, tossing our voices into
the wind
so as to tie things together, to
unbind our hearts."
- Ritsos, November 6
Profile Image for Nazlıcan.
19 reviews
April 4, 2025
Her şeyi ihmal ettik
gelmeyen biri için
masanın üzerinde bir fincan çay
bıraktık;
bir fincan - artık dumanı tütmeyen.

İyi ki gelmedi diyor kar;
iyi ki gelmedi - kar iyidir.
Profile Image for Leif.
1,923 reviews104 followers
January 17, 2013
"January 26"
I want to compare a cloud
to a deer.
I can't.
Over time the good lies
grow few.


Remarkable, really, that a poet as prolific as Ritsos could maintain such a focused intensity of mourning watchfulness as he does over these poems. Remarkable, that is, until you consider the circumstances which led to the poems being written. But not all are uncompromising as "January 26", and some give shape to striking images and concepts. The following is from "November 13":

Things are simpler than we thought
so much so that we are sometimes startled; we stand
looking and smiling precisely there where we pressed our nails into our palm.


And in that image is a figure universally recognizable for all its dumb-founded credulity, smiling until the pain in its hands recalls it back to life.
Profile Image for Griffin Alexander.
218 reviews
March 22, 2016
There is something to Ritsos here that is to Frank Stanford's Shade and to Merwin's Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment. As to what that is, read them in tandem and see it in the spaces that form between the texts and in the spaces between the words that form and meld into that negative space that is really always already affirmative. All three are from about the first half of the '70s, and I am sure the diffusion could not have been deliberate, though I see an ouroboros from Stanford ('73) to Ritsos ('75 and in Greek) and back to Merwin ('73)—particularly in the latter two watch for doors. And watch, still always, for Stanford's fixation, matched almost as emphatically by Ritsos, on the Moon.
Profile Image for Tom Scott.
407 reviews6 followers
January 31, 2023
Greek book #5

February 15, 1950
Where does this barbed wire end?
Snails crawl across the clothes of the killed.
Yet we did not come into the world only to die.
Since at dawn
it smells of lemon peel.


A committed communist, Ritsos found himself on the wrong side of history during the Greek Civil War and by the fall of 1948 was rounded up and sent to a “re-education" center on the northern Aegean island of Limnos. Two of the three sections of this book of poems were written there. The third section was written in 1950 while imprisoned on the much more brutal concentration camp on Markronisos, an island just off the tip of Attica (if I visit the The Temple of Poseidon I’m going to look east and try to conjure 1950).

As with any poetry collection, I didn’t particular like each poem on its own (though many I loved). But the collection as a whole is potent. On Limnos the situation was bad (meaningless labor, scarce rations, vermin), however the poems also tell of camaraderie and a vital collective imaginative spirit. Still, there’s a slow progression from generally hopeful to a little less so as Ritsos establishes his bearings. This period spans October 27, 1948 – January 30, 1949.

By January 18, 1950, Ritsos has been relocated to the concentration camp on Markronisos and the writing gets a lot grimmer. It’s amazing throughout how much spirit is present in these simple poems though. They aren't particularly hopeful but they have an almost playful, certainly bemused, confidence that life still matters.

These poems are 70 years old but feel fresh. Ritsos was writing in extreme conditions (including having to scrounge for something to write on, and keeping the results hidden from guards). He couldn’t afford to get particularly stylish and the results are stripped down to what’s immediate, real, and universal. Subject matter is mostly what he sees and these things reappear over and over. Flies, the mail truck, birds, and barbed wire. Sunlight, nighttime, windows, and flowers. Stools, blankets, and a dog. The moon.

Verbal worry beads; passing the time and comforting the owner.
Profile Image for thalia.
163 reviews
December 20, 2020
This is my favorite of Ritsos I’ve yet encountered. The other works had shoddy translations or the poems have not aged well into our modern social consciousness. But these are tender and gorgeous. The poems in this collection are from a series of brief correspondences and journals hidden away during Ritsos’s two long periods in exile, written while he was imprisoned on torturous islands in fascist labor camps. He still found ways to write and find inspiration. Maybe he did not find ways to be inspired, but was such a remarkable person as to inevitably inspire. Every line feels heavy with the weight of the day— both his contemporary moment in Greek militarism and fascism and in his literal day of forced labor and harsh incarceration.

“Tonight when I believe everyone no one will believe me.
My lamp shines with disbelief too.”
Profile Image for Carlos Puig.
651 reviews49 followers
March 27, 2019
Yannis Ritsos es un poeta cabal. Poemas humanos, demasiado humanos. Hombre comprometido con su época, nada de apacible, donde tomar partido era un imperativo ético impostergable y que en la comodidad de una sala de estar, podría ser fácilmente cuestionable, después de todo lo sucedido en el siglo anterior. Pero más allá de cuestiones extraliterarias, esta selección de poemas dan cuenta de un arte mayor, trascendente e imprescindible. Poemas que pueden parecernos fotografías capaces de capturar el ambiente físico, natural, psicológico y social al mismo tiempo. Poesía bella y verdadera, que nos muestra la irreductible humanidad de quienes padecen, dudan, sienten y anhelan, más allá de los arraigos y desarraigos personales y colectivos.
Profile Image for igna ☆.
48 reviews
July 7, 2023
Hoy hablé con un amigo. Cuando tenía -dijo- trece años
vendía naranjas y limones en el Pireo.
Tenía un amigo armenio que vendía calcetines. Los mediodías de verano
se encontraban en el puerto, detrás de los sacos
dejaban sus canastos en el suelo y leían poemas.
Luego comían algo de pan de sésamo, naranjas, y miraban el mar,
el salto de algún pez, los barcos extranjeros. Desde hoy
yo también tengo un amigo. Mi amigo
tiene olor a naranjas y puerto. En sus bolsillos
muchos silbatos de barcos nocturnos. En su mano
veo el movimiento del minutero del gran Reloj. Desde hoy
lo quiero, desabrocho un botón de su chaqueta.
507 reviews2 followers
December 25, 2017
This three-part verse-diary is as expansive as the universe. Writing as a political prisoner, Ritsos humanizes even the prison guards with his compassionate tone. All humanity is wound up in this. The flies and the rats gently find their way into poems that are lovingly composed. A gentility of heart and spirit pervades this. The dates alone serve as titles. The names of his company woven in so dearly, are familiar. One feels close to the poet.
Profile Image for Ada.
2,126 reviews36 followers
Want to read
July 9, 2021
***who sucked me in***
Jen of Remembered Reads on YouTube in their Recent Reads: Nonfiction & Poetry published on do 8 juli 2021

It's a collection of poetry over a big amount of time and she pointed out how it changed. Which sounds fascinating. Also I didn't know Greece had a civil war 🤦... I want to blame my education but I don't think I can.
Profile Image for مريم العطار.
Author 11 books92 followers
April 20, 2020
‏لكن من يكتبُ طوال اليوم محدقاً في البحر
لا يخطئُ - صفائي الأخرسُ الشاعرُ بالمرارةِ
يحنُّ للكلام دائماً، لأنهُ يحبُّ
أن يؤشرَ على قلبي الخطأ الوحيد.
.
‎#يانيس_ريتسوس
شكرا لترجمة : ‎#محمد_مظلوم
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