Digenis Akritas
Death takes Digenis
to Hades on his horse,
and many more... The herd of mortals
beat their breast and lament.
He has tied
behind the saddle of his horse
the breath of manhood,
the Pleiades of beauty.
But only Akritas,
as though the foot of Death
had not stepped upon him,
stares calmly at the horseman.
«I am Akritas, Death,
I do not pass with the years;
how is it that you touched me, but did not realize who I was,
on the marble threshing-floor?
I am the undying
soul of Salamis,
I have brought the sword of the Greeks
to the gates of the seven-hilled city [Constantinople].
I do not perish in Tartarus,
I only rest a little;
I reappear in life,
and resurrect nations!»
Kostis Palamas
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