Yannis Ritsos (born 1 May, 1909; died 11 November, 1990), pictured above in a photograph (dating from the late 1970s, I believe) by Eri Ritsou (© Eri Ritsou, Mpenaki Museum)
Because
Because the buses were stopped in front of the railing
because the dolls in the lighted shop windows gesticulated
because the girl with the bicycle lingered outside the drugstore
because the carpenter broke the glass door of the beer hall
because the child was alone in the elevator with a stolen pencil
because the dogs had abandoned the seaside villas
because the rusty grater had been covered over by nettles
because the sky was ashen with a red fish
because the horse on the mountain was more alone than the star
because these and those both were hunted
because of this, only because of this, I told you lies.
—translated from the Greek by Edmund Keely
