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Το πονεμένο στήθος μου
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Lyrics
My aching breast may well pain me, but does not speak of it,
and though my lips may sing a song, my heart does weep within.
I weep and moisten with my tears the ground that I stand on,
and yet there’s not a soul appeared to ask what troubles me.
Rent the mountains, o my voice, and pass through like a star,
and go your way and greet for me the lily-flower so white.
O my sun, just pause a while as you prepare to set,
so I may send to my beloved a single gillyflower.
O my sun, what have I done to you that you should set
and leave me in the dark while you go off to shine elsewhere?
The south wind blows and brings the rain, the north wind brings the snow,
but your arched eyebrow drives a wedge between all married folk.
Love demands a wariness, a sense of modesty,
it calls for the swift hare’s light step, the eagle’s watchfulness.
Translated by John Leatham
Original Lyrics
Το πονεμένο στήθος μου
Το πονεμένο στήθος μου πονεί μα δεν το λέει
τ’ αχείλι μου κι αν τραγουδεί, μέσα η καρδιά μου κλαίει.
Κλαίω κι από τα δάκρυα τη γη που στέκω βρέχω
κι άνθρωπος δεν ευρέθηκε, να με ρωτήσει τι έχω.
Σκίσε φωνή μου τα βουνά και πέρασε σαν άστρο
και άμε και χαιρέτα μου τον κρίνο μου τον άσπρο.
Ήλιε μου, στο βασιλεμό περίμενε λιγάκι
να στείλω στην αγάπη μου ένα γαρυφαλάκι.
Ήλιε μου, τι σου έκανα και πας να βασιλέψεις
κι αφήνεις με στα σκοτεινά και πας αλλού να φέξεις.
Παίρνει νοτιά, φέρνει νερό, παίρνει βοριάς χιονίζει
μα σε το καμαρόφρυδο αντρόγυνα χωρίζει.
Η αγάπη θέλει φρόνηση, θέλει ταπεινοσύνη
θέλει λαγού περπατησιά κι αϊτού γρηγοροσύνη.
Information
- Region: Eastern Aegean
- Type: Couplets
- Categories: Love Song
- Rhythm: 7 beats
- Duration: 04:44
Collaborators
- Singer: Domna Samiou
- Constantinopolitan lute: Socrates Sinopoulos
- Saz: Perikles Papapetropoulos
- Bendir (frame drum): Vangelis Karipis
Albums
Notes
The song was made known in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s by the group led by Stamatis Hadjidakis, at the time a renowed dulcimer player from the Dodecanese. It was recorded on disc with other songs, among them Thalassaki (Little Sea). Domna Samiou (1995)
Recording information
Studio recording, 1995.