Categorie: Non-fiction

Waar is het lachende kind? Πού είναι το γέλαστο παιδί; Where is the laughing child?

Ik zal de enige niet zijn die geïnspireerd raakte door “Το γέλαστο παιδί” / Ι’m not the only person who was inspired by “Το γέλαστο παιδί” 

Waar is het lachende kind?

Het lachende kind woont overal
 
In elk hart
van elke moeder 
en vader 
 
In elke glimlach 
in elke hoop 
in elk mens

Het lachende kind woont overal 

In elk land 
in elke eeuw 
in elke dag
en elke nacht 

Het lachende kind woont overal
In elke mens met een geweten
in elk ander kind in een spel 
in elke troost en zelfs pijn
soms door honger heen 
om toch even kind te zijn 

Het lachende kind woont overal 

In elke oorlog 
in elke armoede 
in elke dood 
in elk extreem 
in elke traan 
van elk wenend meisje 

Anne-Mie 
Πού είναι το γέλαστο παιδί;

Σε κάθε καρδιά 
κάθε μητέρας 
και πατέρα

Σε κάθε χαμόγελο 
σε κάθε ελπίδα 
σε κάθε άνθρωπο 

Το γέλαστο παιδί ζει παντού

Σε κάθε χώρα 
σε κάθε αιώνα 
σε κάθε μέρα 
και κάθε νύχτα

Το γέλαστο παιδί ζει παντού 

Σε κάθε άνθρωπο με συνείδηση 
σε κάθε άλλο παιδί που παίζει 
σε κάθε παρηγοριά, ακόμα και πόνο 
λίγες φορές μέσα από την πείνα 
απλώς να είναι παιδί για μια στιγμή 

Το γέλαστο παιδί ζει παντού

Σε κάθε φτώχεια
σε κάθε πόλεμο 
σε κάθε θάνατο 
σε κάθε δάκρυ  
του κάθε κοριτσιού που κλαίει

Αννε-Μή  
Where is the laughing child?

The laughing child lives everywhere

In every heart 
of every mother 
and father

In every smile 
in every hope 
in every person

The laughing child lives everywhere

In every country 
in every century 
in every day 
and every night 

The laughing child lives everywhere 

In every person with a conscience 
in every other child in a game 
in every comfort and even pain 
Sometimes through hunger 
Just to be a child for a moment 

The laughing child lives everywhere 

In every war 
in every poverty 
in every death 
in every extreme 
in every tear 
of every crying girl

Anne-Mie
Als een kind niet in veiligheid kan lachen en dromen ….. wat doet de rest er dan toe?

The laughing boy, universal ?

This song is sung with such passion, with such power in the music and words, that it became almost universally used for other events.

It is a Greek translation of an Irish poem, “The Laughing Boy,” written by Brendan Behan in honor of Michael Collins. He was shot dead in 1922 in Cork after his convoy was ambushed. Was he killed by his own people? You can find the background here .

You can read and listen to the original poem here.

Here you can find the progress of the Irish poem to the Greek translation and set to music by Mikis Theodorakis.

You will find this passion in other songs as well, even if you don’t understand the language in which they are sung. How many languages, for example, would “Bella Ciao” be sung in?

Every time I hear this*song, or in another*version — even before I understood the words — I am stilled by the power of this song. For me, Maria Farantouri expresses the best this power of the underlying theme (despite me a big fan of Georges Dalaras).

I wonder where the laughing child is in these days. The crying girl symbolizes everyone who weeps for a child — even more this horribly — lost.

To be continued…

AMK