Γενέθλια [Genethlia] [English translation]

On the trails of longing

by the bridge of sorrow

my mother gave birth to me on an autumnal night

Where my eyes first opened to witness life’s cold heart

They lulled me with plastic rattles, pretty and colorful

My little eyes saw the good of the world and yearned for them

But my milk was bitter

and my water brackish

That’s the way that I was raised

Opposite my crib laid

my penant for thuggery

It consumed me and became my destiny.

My cry was hazy as if there was something I wanted to say but nobody cared enough to help me

I let out a breath of despair for this whore of a life that they thus incurred on me

And so I set off then, so I set off then

They didn't ask me if I wanted you Life, but still I got used to you

Though I am like a wounded eagle in the dirt, I still seek the strength to hold myself up

And so I set off then, so I set off then

They showed me one thing but I perceived another

God, if I knew which day I would die on I'd make the day of my death the day of a new birth.

On the sludges and the nails in the unjust fires of this world in which I first walked

I steadied my balance as I stepped trying to carry on and make it in time to not miss out on my life

In my school days

"a" and "w" were the letters that I first pronounced

That's why this "agh" and this "why" follow me wherever I go, even now as I enter my thirties

Thus the time passed

and I, stooping on my road, created new dreams

But as it turned out, I am one of those assigned only to swim in the foam of muddy waters

My soul's blood drips

like drops of rain

but nobody cares

There is an invisible wound that bleeds within me, and nobody here for me to share in my burden.

And so I set off then...

• Artist:Notis Sfakianakis
• Album:Με αγάπη ό,τι κάνεις - 2004