Andreas Kalvos on Lord Byron: from Ode, The British Muse (1826)

Ἀνδρέας Κάλβος - Ὠδαί

http://users.uoa.gr/~nektar/arts/poetry/andreas_kalbos_wdai.htm#lyrika01

ᾨδὴ Πρώτη.

Four verses from The British Muse

Ἡ Βρεττανικὴ Μοῦσα

η´.

Ὦ Βύρων· ὦ θεσπέσιον
πνεῦμα τῶν Βρεττανίδων,
τέκνον μουσῶν καὶ φίλε
ἄμοιρε τῆς Ἑλλάδος
καλλιστεφάνου...

ιε´.

Ἰδοὺ ἡ Ἑλλὰς σοῦ ἑτοίμασεν
ὄχι τὸν χρυσὸν κύκλον
τὸν τοὺς κροτάφους φλέγοντα
τῶν ἀργῶν βασιλέων
ἢ τῶν τυράννων·...

ις´.

Ἀλλὰ στέφανον ἕτερον,
στολὴν ἔνδοξον, ἔντιμον,
ἀξίαν νοὸς δικαίου,
ἀνδρὸς ἀξίαν γενναίου
φιλελευθέρου·

ιθ´.

Σὲ ἡ Ἑλλὰς εὐγνώμων
ὡς φίλον μεγαλόψυχον
ζητεῖ νὰ στεφανώσῃ,
ὡς παρηγορητήν της,
ὡς εὐεργέτην.

Ah Byron, divine spirit
of the British Isles!
Child of the Muses,
ill-fated friend
of glorious Greece!

Greece has prepared
not the golden crown,
lighting the temples
of idle kings
or tyrants

but another crown,
a glorious, honoured
ornament, worthy
of a mind tuned to justice,
of a brave liberal man...

In recognition, Greece
wants to crown you
as a magnanimous friend
as her comforter
and benefactor.


From the translation by George Dandoulakis, Andreas Kalvos, Odes, Shoestring Press, 1998

ISBN: 1 899549 L18