F YOU can't make your life as you want it,

even then, try this at least

as much as you can: don't cheapen it

in all those gatherings of the world,

in all that move and talk.

Don't cheapen it, taking it,

dragging it often and exposing it

to the relations' and associations'

daily folly

until it becomes like a strange one, burdensome.

Ὅσο μπορεῖς

Κι ἂν δὲν μπορεῖς νὰ κάμεις τὴν ζωή σου ὅπως τὴν θέλεις

τοῦτο προσπάθησε τουλάχιστον

ὅσο μπορεῖς : μὴν τὴν ἐξευτελίζεις

μὲς στὴν πολλὴ συνάφεια τοῦ κόσμου,

μὲς στὲς πολλὲς κινήσεις κι ὁμιλίες.

Μὴν τὴν ἐξευτελίζεις πιαίνοντάς την,

γυρίζοντας συχνὰ κ' ἐκθέτοντάς την

στῶν σχέσεων καὶ τῶν συναναστροφῶν

τὴν καθημερινὴν ἀνοησία,

ὣς ποὺ νὰ γίνει σὰ μιὰ ξένη φορτική.

Cf. PAPATSONIS : Scheme, Hestia, Wisdom, In Rising Sound