A fairly free translation/rendition, from the Greek, of a popular Cypriot folk song.
A “Tillirkotissa” is a woman from the district of Tilliria in north west Cyprus.
You are a star, a small blue star,
circled by seven planets,
and your gentle words and tender look
have touched me to the heart.
They went and told the lovesick girl
that soon I would be leaving,
and she cast a spell upon the sea
and summoned up a tempest.
And when I said farewell to her
she gazed at me with sorrow,
and cried a pool of tears for me,
for anguish at our parting,
Damn those who say that honey’s sweet,
they don’t know what they’re saying,
the sweetest thing in the whole wide world
is the kiss of a girl who wants you.
Pavlos Andronikos