One can see the cheerful white house,
with its red roof, vegetable garden, and well.
In it the earth deposits the secrets of its fragrance;
the forest colt licks its wooden step at night;
it also brings the secret of its simple life.
The stars are low, lured into the depths
Of the sleepless water.
We can live here.
Nearby, the river flows
through the reeds and bushes with no names,
through rushes that offer all they bear with love;
it flows past us and barely notices us.
It washes the bird’s feet and quenches the horse’s thirst,
It waters the fields as best it can.
At night it has no stories or dreams;
it is water
it does its work perfectly
it tires and it sleeps.
Home on Earth
by Panos Thasites
Translation © R J Dent (2009)
R J Dent 