This Greek translation of ‘The Death of Children’ was developed over three successive workshop sessions by students of literary translation at the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University, in late 2023. Both the poetry translation problems posed by Berengarten’s original villanelle, and the responses provoked by the poem’s theme, lent themselves to fruitful discussions in an academic setting; exchanging ideas saw significant improvements over a series of drafts. The collaborative translation process was co-ordinated by course instructor Paschalis Nikolaou, who also reads the poem in the recording ...

This Greek translation of ‘The Death of Children’ was developed over three successive workshop sessions by students of literary translation at the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting of the Ionian University, in late 2023. Both the poetry translation problems posed by Berengarten’s original villanelle, and the responses provoked by the poem’s theme, lent themselves to fruitful discussions in an academic setting; exchanging ideas saw significant improvements over a series of drafts. The collaborative translation process was co-ordinated by course instructor Paschalis Nikolaou, who also reads the poem in the recording available here for The Poetry Archive. Nikolaou has previously collaborated with Richard Berengarten, most notably in co-editing and translating the Selected Poems of Nasos Vayenas (2010), and a chapbook of Greek Cavafy-inspired poems (2015).

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The death of children (Greek)

Ο Θάνατος των Παιδιών 

 

Ο θάνατος των παιδιών είναι η χειρότερη πληγή 

στη φύση και τη δικαιοσύνη. Μη ρωτάς γιατί. 

Δίκαιο τι είναι, κανείς μας δεν κατανοεί. 

 

Τί μπορεί να επανορθώσει, ποια ποινή; 

Πρόσχημα δεν υπάρχει· ούτε άλλοθι, απαλλαγή. 

Ο θάνατος των παιδιών, η χειρότερη πληγή. 

 

Προσποιείται όποιος ισχυριστεί  

τη μοίρα πως διαβάζει. Δικαιοσύνη 

ενώ ζητούμε, κανείς μας δεν κατανοεί  

 

η μοίρα πώς θα υφανθεί. Όποιος υπερασπιστεί 

κίνητρα, βρει εξηγήσεις, πάλι ψέματα θα πει. 

Ο θάνατος των παιδιών, η χειρότερη πληγή. 

 

Λυγίζουν οι γονείς – ο θάνατος γιατί να τα πάρει  

από κοντά μας; Παιδιά ήταν, δεν κατάλαβαν ζωή. 

Δίκαιο τι είναι, κανείς μας δεν κατανοεί. 

 

Κουράγιο θέλει, υπομονή. Ξένοι μεταξύ μας ή γνωστοί 

γονείς δεν είμαστ’ όλοι, όταν χαθεί ένα παιδί; 

Δίκαιο τι είναι, κανείς μας δεν κατανοεί. 

Ο θάνατος των παιδιών, η χειρότερη πληγή. 

 

Ρίτσαρντ Μπερενγκαρτεν

 

Translated by Christina-Ioanna Chelaki, Pavlina Giotopoulou, Vera Gouni, Evangelia Karava, Phoebe Katopodi, Sofia Ntinia, Maria Solomakou, Yiannis Taxakis and Zaneta Zastartaite / Edited by Paschalis Nikolaou

 

 

 

Paschalis Nikolaou

Paschalis Nikolaou is the author of The Return of Pytheas: Scenes from British and Greek Poetry in Dialogue (2017) and Creative Classical Translation (2023). He has collaborated extensively with Richard Berengarten, most notably in co-editing and translating the Selected Poems of Nasos Vayenas (2010) as well as a chapbook of Greek Cavafy-inspired poems (2015). He has also co-edited Richard Berengarten: A Portrait in Inter-Views (2017) and more recently, Under the Sign of the I Ching: Essays on Richard Berengarten’s Changing (2023). He has contributed essays to The Companion to Richard Berengarten (2011/2016), as well as to the forthcoming volume on RB’s writings relating to the Balkans, Bloody Human, ed. Ana Radović, (forthcoming, 2025).

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