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Original lyrics
Οδυσσέας
Σε θυμάμαι, κάθε ώρα που περνάει
απ’ το χθες στο σήμερα με φέρνει και με πάει
Κι όλα γυρνάνε γύρω από `σένανε ξανά
Όλα είναι εδώ κι εσύ δεν είσαι πουθενά
Δε λυπάμαι που είμαι μόνη τώρα πια
ούτε που με πλήγωσες με λόγια που πονάνε
μα φοβάμαι να μη σε πάνε μακριά
του καινούριου σου έρωτα τα χάρτινα φτερά
Κάνε λοιπόν τον κύκλο σου Οδυσσέα
κι όσο λείπεις θα `μαι εδώ
Θα υφαίνω ατέλειωτο πανί
ώσπου να βρεις το δρόμο σου μοιραία,
στης Ιθάκης το νησί να ξαναβγείς (x2)
Σε θυμάμαι, κάθε ώρα που περνάει
απ’ το χθες στο σήμερα με φέρνει και με πάει
Κι όλα γυρνάνε γύρω από `σένανε ξανά
Όλα είναι εδώ κι εσύ δεν είσαι πουθενά
Κάνε λοιπόν τον κύκλο σου Οδυσσέα
κι όσο λείπεις θα `μαι εδώ
Θα υφαίνω ατέλειωτο πανί
ώσπου να βρεις το δρόμο σου μοιραία,
στης Ιθάκης το νησί να ξαναβγείς (x2)
Submitted by 
notaprincess9 on 2019-01-09
notaprincess9 on 2019-01-09Last edited by 
Miley_Lovato on 2022-03-02
Miley_Lovato on 2022-03-02Translation
Odysseus
You haunt my memories, every passing hour -
Yesterday, today - you come and overpower.
All things revolve1, while you remain the center.
We're where you left us, and you're out there.
I don't regret being so alone here,
Or that you once wounded me with unkind words.
I fear that you’ll drift far off on foreign winds,
Held aloft on some new lover’s papyrus wings2
So, run your nomadic course, Odysseus.
While you're away, I'll stay here at home.
I’ll work my loom, weave my round-the-clock cocoon3
Til fate’s ceaseless wheels reintroduce you
To our Ithakian home ... perhaps once more to roam.
You haunt my memories every passing hour -
Yesterday, today - you come and overpower.
All things revolve, while you remain the center.
We're where you left us, and you're out there.
So, run your nomadic course, Odysseus.
While you're away, I'll stay here at home.
I’ll work my loom, weave my round-the-clock cocoon,
Til fate’s ceaseless wheels reintroduce you
To our Ithakian home ... perhaps once more to roam.
- 1. The original Greek here is "γυρνάνε γύρω" = turn around. The lyricist has woven all sorts of words associated with time, circles, cyclical occurrences, and recurrences into this piece, ideas that I have tried to match with similar sorts of words in English
- 2. The Greek words in this line is χάρτινα φτερά, which means "paper wings." In the time of Odysseus, paper was expensive and foreign, since the papyrus plants used to make paper grew mostly in Egypt - certainly not in Ithaka. So while the main association we might have with "paper" is "flimsy" (esp. compared to the cloth that the speaker, Penelope, is weaving on her loom at home), if we think in terms of Penelope's viewpoint, it is also something fancy, exotic, and foreign, qualities that are here associated with the seductress that she fears her husband, Odysseus, might be encountering in his travels abroad (which Homer relates in "The Odyssey").
- 3. In the original Greek, this line ends with the word "πανί" = cloth, fabric, material. As noted above, this forms a nice contrast with the "paper" wings of the imagined seductress. But I was not satisfied with the sound of any of these literal ways of translating "πανί" because they did not chime with the pattern of sounds in the English rendition, so I chose "cocoon" as a compromise between sound and meaning.
jhbuck✕
Collections with "Οδυσσέας"
| 1. | Songs with male names in the title Pt. 2 |
NaMa: Top 3
| 1. | Οδυσσέας (Odysseas) |
| 2. | Καλημέρα (Kalimera) |
| 3. | Το ψαράκι (To Psaraki) |
Idioms from "Οδυσσέας"
| 1. | round the clock |
Comments
About translator
This is not a word-by-word translation. Instead, it is my attempt to capture not only the imagery and ideas of the original lyrics, but also (as much as possible) the strong musicality of the language (which involves end-rhyme, meter, repetition, and other sound-patterns).
There's already an excellent English translation on the site that sticks closer to the exact meanings of the words in the Greek original.
In my own version, I tried to copy the exact syllable count of each line in the original, perhaps allowing the text to be set to the original music.