Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Midnight

Yannis Ritsos

Dressed in black and the ethereal — her footsteps went unheard.
She walked through the portico. No lights on. As she climbed
the stone steps, they shouted, "Halt!" Her face
a white mist in the darkness. Beneath her apron,
she was hiding a violin. "Who's there!" She didn't speak.
She stopped dead; hands raised, with that violin
clutched between her knees. She was smiling.

June 15, 1968
Partheni concentration camp



from Stones [Collected Poems:I ]

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