It follows a poem by the Greek poet Kostas Stergiopoulos. It reflects the battle between ostensibility and our deep inner self—translation made by me.

The Unknown

In our dark bowels resides
someone who holds the key to our existence,
always lost, alone, and unsolved,
with a memory older than the world, burdened
with all our wounds and our remorse.

Miserable mocking or even joyful,
invisible, he governs us,
he receives the impact from outside
and gives the answer.
Ηe reminds us of the past
and forbodes the future.

Some days, however, he leaves us unaware.
And just when we, clueless, plan new excursions,
he leans over, dead tired, has grown sleepy
and is ready to emigrate, indifferent
to our ephemeral, mundane plans.

©1960, Kostas Stergiopoulos

©translation: 2025, Vasiliki Papadopoulou

A few words about the poet:

Born in Athens in 1926, Kostas Stergiopoulos studied Philology at the University of Athens. Taught as a professor in secondary education schools and as a lecturer in the chair of Modern Greek Literature at the University of Athens. In 1972, he was elected professor of Modern Greek Literature at the University of Ioannina. He engaged in prose, poetry, and criticism. The roots of his poetic work lie in the symbolism of the interwar period poets, which also became a special subject of his critical studies.