I Give up Poetry [by Stamatis Polenakis]

I give up poetry exactly the way a traveler gives up his home and disappears forever into the snowy night.
Someone I do not recognize is leaning over dark waters, isn’t there another way for this poem to end?

I never asked for this burden, relieve me, Lord, from the stone pressing down on my chest.

(From the poetry collection Notre Dame)

Translated by Valerie Coulton and Vassilis Manoussakis