In the early summer of 1980, Takis Sinopoulos published this eight-part poem which is already accepted as a highwater mark in his work comparable to the Song of Joanna and Constantine and Deathfeast. 'The Grey Light' returns to the landscape of Pyrgos and the Alfion estuary, the landscape of the poet's dreams. A quotation from the Book of Night which introduces the poem confirms this: 'After all I was nurtured by three rivers. The Erymanthos (Doanna), the Lathonas and the Alfios.' These are poems of homecoming. Memory serves not only to dredge up darkness but, in its final and positive role, as a means of redemption.

1. My concern is with that little square in the west window
and with the grey afternoon light on the opposite wall
many times as I watched
I saw in dreams
the grey light of the river
coming down
I shall speak to you later.

2. The sky of Pyrgos
with you now, bound by the sun
that dark copper colour

One by one trees reveal the town
and a thin rain reclines
along the slopes of this descent

You'll find your footsteps once again
along the road of time. It's the same light
...