Museum of Olympia

Άπτερος Νίκη

Statue of Nike

Greek goddess of victory

Statue from the Archaeological museum of Olympia 

The statues left first.

 A little later the trees, people, animals.

The land became entirely desert.

The wind blew.

Newspapers and thorns circled in the streets.

At dusk the lights went on by themselves.

A man came back alone,

looked around him,

took out his key,

stuck it in the ground

as though entrusting it to an underground hand

or as though planting a tree.

Then he climbed the marble stairs and gazed down at the city.

Cautiously, one by one, the statues returned.

Yannis Ritsos (1909 – 1991)

Translated by Edmund Keeley