Denial

In 1963 there was a strong belief that Neruda was going to win the Nobel prize. Seferis got it. The Chilean ambassador in Paris had prepared a party for Neruda, that did not take place. "Do you know who this Seferis is?", the ambassador asked Neruda. "No idea", was Neruda´s answer.

DENIAL
by Giorgos Seferis

On the secret seashore
white like a pigeon
we thirsted at noon;
but the water was brackish.

On the golden sand
we wrote her name;
but the sea-breeze blew
and the writing vanished.

With what spirit, what heart,
what desire and passion
we lived our life: a mistake!
So we changed our life...

[English translation by Edmund Keeley and Phillip Sherrard]

Mikis Theodorakis put it into music. He also composed the music for Neruda´s Canto General...