Theseus
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My brothrt-in-law and his wife are in the Cyclades and at present ‘exploring’ Santorini. They met a man who, with typical Greek generosity, gave them a book of poetry which his father had written. They sent my wife one of his poems for me to ‘decipher’ for them: neither of them knows a word of Greek.
Here is the last stanza of the poem:-
Εδώ, που είμαστε ψηλά, στον καθαρό αέρα,
πάνω στα όμορφα Φηρά και κάνουμε βεγγέρα,
ξεχνάς των τρένων τη βοή, των αμαξιών το κλάξον,
και να φωναξεις σού ‘ρχεται ντέλαξον ντε, λάξον!
It is really verse not poetry in my opinion (the distinction was made by a distinguished English poet, John Betjeman, who called his memorable poems ‘verse’) but that is by the by. What actually is ντέλαξον derived from and what does it mean? In its context it must mean something like ‘should you feel like shouting, go on! Let it rip!
Here is the last stanza of the poem:-
Εδώ, που είμαστε ψηλά, στον καθαρό αέρα,
πάνω στα όμορφα Φηρά και κάνουμε βεγγέρα,
ξεχνάς των τρένων τη βοή, των αμαξιών το κλάξον,
και να φωναξεις σού ‘ρχεται ντέλαξον ντε, λάξον!
It is really verse not poetry in my opinion (the distinction was made by a distinguished English poet, John Betjeman, who called his memorable poems ‘verse’) but that is by the by. What actually is ντέλαξον derived from and what does it mean? In its context it must mean something like ‘should you feel like shouting, go on! Let it rip!
Ξέρω γω;
