One is the swallow
Lyrics: Odysseas Elytis
Music: Mikis Theodorakis
First version: Grigoris Bithikotsis & Chorus (duet)
Play this song!
One is the swallow, and the spring exacting
It takes plenty of work for the sun to return
It takes the thousands of dead to work the fields
It takes the living to give their blood, as well
My God you Master Builder, you placed me among the mountains
My God you Master Builder, you’ve enclosed me in the sea!
‘Twas taken by the Magi the body of May
They have it buried in a tomb of the open sea
In a deep well they keep it closed
The darkness grew fragrant and all the abyss
My God You Master Builder, you also lie among the lilac trees
My God You Master Builder, you released the scent of Resurrection
(There’s also another verse of the poem, which was taken out of the song, probably to shorten it:
It was stirred like the seed in the dark womb
The atrocious insect of remembrance, into the earth
And just like the spider, the light is biting
The shores and all the sea have glimmered
my god you master-builder, you’ve wrapped me up in shores
my god you master-builder, you’e established me in the mountains)