War Symphony (Act III) - Odes of Ecstasy

Iron horses burn the land

Iron eagles sky attack

The dogs of war, now are loose

To devour through their pass

Rain of fire, metal storm

A roar of winds takes away our souls

Carve my stone, carve my name

To the hires of flesh

Among the thorns I lay

…and I listen the war symphony

My last ode of ecstasy

The orchestra plays dark melodies

As I fall in endless sleep

When the wicked are confunded

Doomed to flames of woe unbounded

Call me, with Thy Saints surrounded

Low I kneel, with heart submission!

See, like ashes my contrition!

Help me in my last condition!

…and I listen the war symphony

My last ode of ecstasy

The orchestra plays dark melodies

As I sink in bottomeless seas

«Confutatis maledictis

Flammis acribus addictis:

Voca me cum benedictis

Oro supplex et acclinis

Cor contritum quasi cinis:

Gere curam mei finis"

«We are like certain rickety guitars

Whenever the wind passes through, it sets

Astir our verses and their dissonant sounds

From the slack strings that dangle down

Like watch chains

We are like certain incredible antennae

That with long finger reach into the void

As on their tips the infinite resounds

But quickly they shall snap and trumble down"

(Poetry by Kostas Kariotakis)

(translation by Kimon Friar)