Homero via Chamas

Here [is] a passage from [Kostis Palamas'] 'The Death of the Ancients', in which the Gipsy declares:


If ever I find a papyrus,
I burn it to secure
heat or light;
I light my fire indiscriminately,
in any ruined foundation,
whether palace or monastery,
school or church.

And from the flame and the blaze
all around me birds and trees
and reptiles
shine, crackles, quiver, change,
an the while of nature becomes spirit
and whispers secretly to me
mantic words.

The impulse here is to secure inspiration desctructively, in defiance of nature, through an artificial light: through the destruction of what is human the poet achieves natural inspiration.

David Ricks, The Shade of Homer. Cambridge University Press (1989)


Na realidade, o poema acima chamado "Death of the Ancients" é apenas uma das secções do mais composto poema de Palamas "Doze Palavras". Infelizmente não parece existir online em texto, mas leituras das várias secções estão disponíveis, por exemplo, aqui.