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Πέρασα καλημέρισα
I passed by and bid four black eyes good day,
four lips, dear Daphne, four red lips.
Four red lips and two lithe, slender frames,
I passed them by, dear Daphne, and asked them the way.
They didn’t say a word, and I set off anyways
along the road, the lonely o’ergrown path,
and came out at an old country chapel,
its cemetery abristle with graves in rows,
and one grave over yonder moaning and sighing away.
– What ails you, grave, why do you moan and sigh?
Does the earth weigh heavy,
does your tombstone block the light?
– My earth does not weigh heavy, my tombstone blocks no light,
it’s you that ails me, standing upon my head.
If you’re a young man, enjoy your life,
and if you’re old and grey, I’ll rise up and take you.
[Don’t think I was not a brave young lad,
don’t think I didn’t walk abroad in the light of the moon,
just because I lie buried now deep inside the earth.]
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Πέρασα καλημέρισα τέσσερα μαύρα μάτια,
τέσσερα χείλια, Δάφνη μ’, κόκκινα
τέσσερα χείλια κόκκινα κι δυο λιγνά κορμάκια,
πέρασα, Δάφνη μ’, κι τα ρώτησα,
πέρασα κι τα ρώτησα του δρόμου να μι δείξουν
κι κείνα δε μου μίλησαν κι κίνησα κι πάω.
Παίρνου του δρόμου του στρατί, τ’ άδειου του μονοπάτι,
του μονοπάτι μ’ έβγαλι σι μια παλιοκκλησίτσα.
Βρίσκου τα μνήματα πυκνά, πυκνά κι αραδιασμένα
κι ένα μνήμα παράμερα βογγάει κι αναστινάζει.
– Τι έχεις μνήμα μ’ κι βουγγάς κι βαριαναστινάζεις,
μην είν’ του χώμα σου βαρύ κι η πέτρα σου μιγάλη;
– Δεν είν’ του χώμα μου βαρύ κι η πέτρα μου μιγάλη,
εσύ ’σι που μι πάτησις πάνω στην κεφαλή μου.
Αν είσι νιος να χαίρισι κι αν είσι παλικάρι
κι αν είσι κάνας γέροντας να βγω κι να σι πάρω.
[Τι γαρ ιγώ δεν ήμαν νιος, δεν ήμαν παλικάρι,
τι γαρ ιγώ δε γύρισα νύχτα μι του φιγγάρι
κι τώρα πώς κατάντησα να ’μι βαθιά στου χώμα.]
This song and the song Little apple tree perched on the brink are linked to the popular belief that the souls of the dead are angered when their peace is disturbed. The plot is simple: a young man walking at night to a celebration or erotic assignation, loses his way and finds himself in a cemetery where he walks upon a young man’s grave. Ultimately, the contrast between these two young men – one alive, one dead – brought about by this unwitting desecration, the dead man’s complaints from beyond the grave and recollections of his own lost youth, comprise a philosophical meditation on the transience and fragility of life. Miranda Terzopoulou (2008)
Studio recording, 2006.
It was collected in the 1970s by Yiorgos Amarantidis from Traiani and Theodor Pitsanis, a married couple, during their stay in Athens in order to make some appearances at the Dora Stratou Theatre. Traiani and Theodor Pitsanis, residents of the village of Kitros in Pieria, were refugees from Bana, Eastern Rumelia. Yiorgos Amarantidis handed the tape with the collected songs to Domna Samiou for inclusion in her archive.
Singers
Gaida (bagpipe)
Daouli (davul)
Informant (source of the song)
