Music by Giorgos Theofanous
Lyrics by Thanos Papanicolaou
Premiere by Petros Gaitanos
From the beautiful tables and the silver on the buffet
Now breaths and screams in the land of terror
With ravani and baklava and grandma’s kunefe
How to sweeten the uprooting of pain
From the celebrations, the joys and the cup of coffee
Now the traumatized Saint Fotini
Awaits from God the charity of a little love
In her homeland the same, now burned
Smyrna, you who you are the dreamed of
Mother of mine and root of anise
I search still in an unequal world
For my life that is lost
Smyrna, you the uprooted
Have you not yet tired of being afraid
But inside me you never withered
Rise up blooming
Smyrna, you the beloved
From Mount Sipylus the Virgin watches tearfully
The sacred soil quenching its thirst with blood
And purchasing again with the kisses of Judas
People’s dreams from the betraying spear
Now permanently silent the welcomes and hellos
Crying and pain now make the noise
He who can bear to remember from where his hat hails
One day his life will be justified
(trans. Debra Szybinski)