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Ritsos, Yiannis – Selected Poems - Secret Guilt
Identifier
029419
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
From Selected Poems, tr. N. Stangos (1974)
Secret Guilt
Sin and saintliness, we said, are the same in the same night
The other one had sworn not to tell. But, who knows -
you can never be sure if and how long he'll keep silent,
you will keep silent; - and maybe you will rush foolishly
to anticipate the other one, looking at the rain trickling down
the illuminated panes of the restaurant, when in the crowd
the chair is heard falling, the glass breaking,
and He, with a stab in the cheek, red eyes,
stretches his huge, muscular arm and points at you.