οι μέρες του Σεπτέμβρη που ανατέλλουν στα όνειρά μου

αν δεν μιλώ για τα μαλλιά σου

 

Κι αν για τον έρωτά μου δεν μπορώ να πω —
αν δεν μιλώ για τα μαλλιά σου, για τα χείλη, για τα μάτια·
όμως το πρόσωπό σου που κρατώ μες στην ψυχή μου,
ο ήχος της φωνής σου που κρατώ μες στο μυαλό μου,
οι μέρες του Σεπτέμβρη που ανατέλλουν στα όνειρά μου,
τες λέξεις και τες φράσεις μου πλάττουν και χρωματίζουν
εις όποιο θέμα κι αν περνώ, όποιαν ιδέα κι αν λέγω.

Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης [ο Δεκέμβρης του 1903]

Σωκράτης Μάλαμας - Δεκέμβρης 1903

And if I cannot speak about my love—

if I do not talk about your hair, your lips, your eyes,

still your face that I keep within my heart,

the sound of your voice that I keep within my mind,

the days of September that rise in my dreams,

give shape and color to my words, my sentences,

whatever theme I touch, whatever thought I utter. 

C.P. Cavafy [December, 1903] - translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

τζάμπα μαγκιά - all hat and no cattle

 

Rozalia Luksenburg in Berlin, 1907

Επειδή η τζάμπα μαγκιά της ανέξοδης και χωρίς συνέπειες κριτικής των πάντων από τον ασφαλή καναπέ αρκετές φορές ξεφεύγει (άραγε σε προσπάθεια εντυπωσιασμού και επίδειξης; άγνωστο, καθότι άβυσσος η ψυχή του ανθρώπου), παραθέτω μερικές σταράτες κουβέντες ενός ανθρώπου που κάθε άλλο παρά από τον καναπέ σχολίαζε.

Because the inexpensive and inconsequential criticism of everything from the safety of our couch often goes astray (perhaps in an effort to impress and show off? - unknown, since the human soul is an abyss), I quote some straight words of a person who had never commented from the couch.

Schließlich muß man sich sagen, daß es keinen Sinn hat, alles zu kritisieren, über alles zu brummen, ohne es selbst besser zu machen.

Rosa Luxemburg in einem Brief an ihren Gefährten Leo Jogiches vom 22. Januar 1899

Τέλος, πρέπει να πει κανείς στον εαυτό του ότι δεν έχει νόημα να επικρίνει τα πάντα, να γκρινιάζει για τα πάντα, χωρίς να κάνει κάτι καλύτερο ο ίδιος.

Η Ρόζα Λούξεμπουργκ σε μια επιστολή στον σύντροφό της Leo Jogiches στις 22 Ιανουαρίου 1899

Finally, you have to tell yourself that there is no point in criticising everything, grumbling about everything, without doing it better yourself.

Rosa Luxemburg in a letter to her companion Leo Jogiches of 22 January 1899

Anniversary of the Wall inception

 

The mural "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love" by Dmitri Vrubel, 

on the Berlin Wall today 

On August 12, 1961, 62 years ago, Walter Ulbricht, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and State Council chairman of socialist East Germany, signed the order to close the border of East Berlin with West Berlin and erect a wall. At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed.

Only two months earlier, Ulbricht had stated that "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!).

Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin.

Nowadays, the longest surviving section of the once 155-km long Wall, is only 1,3 km long and forms the East Side Gallery - a permanent open-air gallery that consists of a series of murals painted directly on the Berlin Wall.

Nothing really ends

Fuji from Enoshima

I'm tired of weakness

Tired of my feet of clay

I'm tired of days to come

I'm tired of yesterday

And all the worn out things that I ever said

Now it's much too late

The words stay in my head

So the day will begin again

Take comfort from me

It's up to you now

You're still here and you'll dig in again

That's comfort to you

It's up to you now

So pariah you'll begin again

Take comfort from me

And I will take comfort from you

I'm tired of Facebook

Tired of my failing health

I'm tired of everyone

And that includes myself

Well being alone now

It doesn't bother me

But not knowing if you are

That's been hell you see

So the day will begin again

Take comfort from me

It's up to you now

You're still here

And you'll dig in again

That's comfort to you

It's up to you now

So pariah you'll begin again

Take comfort from me

It will take time

Don't you worry

Don't worry about a thing

'Cause nothing really dies

Nothing really ends

Steve Wilson [Pariah, 2017]

To truly arrive, you have to leave

 

Berlin State Library at Potsdamer Platz

one of the filming locations

To truly arrive, you have to leave.

Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger, Wim Wenders

from the film of Wim Wenders "Der Himmel über Berlin" (Wings of desire)