LONGING

LONGING

I want you like a fallen angel
who reached his Heaven
and drank water from the crystal spring.
I want you like a flower
that discovered the Castalian Spring*
in a Jewish desert.
I want you like a lake
that yearns for its escape
to the untraveled ocean
in which to merge.
I wish I could become
light wind upon your lips
to get the kiss of your water.
But your pitcher is too small
—how can it quench me?

CHRYSSA NIKOLAKIS, Greece 1977
Translation Manolis – Stanley Barkan

In Greek and Roman mythologies, Castalia was the daughter of the god-river Aqualoo or simply a girl from Delphi.
Apollo loved her, but she fled from him and dived into the fountain in Delphi at the foot of Mount Parnassus, which has
since been called Castalia.1 Castalia could inspire the genius of poetry to those who drank its waters or listened to its soft
sound. Its sacred water was also used to purify Delphic temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the Muses
(Castaliae Musae).