巨大的风暴袭击着整个岛屿。橄榄树和柏树在风中哗哗作响，海浪层层叠叠向沙滩上堆积，雨水横扫过我的屋顶发出嘶嘶的响声。天气很冷，我的赤陶灯也闪着冷光。有人说暴风雨会把我们的岛冲走，但我不信。我们的岛在我离开之后还会存在很久，我们的小镇也会存在很久，我亲爱的米蒂利尼岛，错得离谱，却又如此正确。 这样的狂风，会使阿尔凯厄斯陶醉其中。他会走到室外任由雨水鞭打，然后走过来，把我抱在怀里。 暴风雨将彻夜肆虐，排水沟也将喷涌而出，我将为我的孤独而感到愤怒，这种不断增长的孤独。 咆哮着，喷涌着，敲打着，践踏着——明天，太阳将会归来，大海的眼睛将熠熠生辉，我会凝视着海湾对面。而阿尔凯厄斯，却不会在这里了。 灯光微弱，蜡油已经变硬。我双脚冰冷，必须去睡觉了。 昨天，葡萄酒工人们聚集在附近的一个葡萄园里，老人和女孩们穿着破旧的衣服在压榨葡萄，他们有的懒惰，有的勤劳，很多都是我的朋友。大胡子尼科坐在一棵橡树下指挥着他们的工作。他穿着一件脏兮兮的长袍，声音低沉。妇女们提着篮子，里面盛满了一串串紫色的葡萄。她们的裙子被露水打湿，葡萄沾染了湿气后，也变得斑斑驳驳。天气多云而凉爽。有人开玩笑地吹奏着笛子，男人们踩踏着葡萄，把葡萄皮倾倒在沙土地上，时不时地停下来在橡树下交谈。圆形的压榨机喷出红色的汁液，每个人都会尝一尝。许多双耳罐在最终装满封盖之前就被打破了。 我想要帮忙。这甜蜜的芳香充斥着我的鼻腔。

The great storm beats across the island, rattling the olive and the cypress, piling the surf on the beach, hissing the rain across my roof. It is cold and the light of my terra cotta lamp is cold. Some say that a storm will wash away our island, but I do not believe it. Our island will be here long after I have gone, and so will our town, my dear Mytilene, so wrong, so right. Alcaeus would revel in this gale and go out in it and let the rain lash him and then he would come and take me in his arms. The storm will rage all night and the gutters spew, and I will rage at my soli­tude, a solitude that grows and grows. Growl on, spew on, beat and tramp—tomorrow’s sun will return and the sea’s eye will glitter and I will gaze across the bay—and Alcaeus will not be here. My feet are cold and the lamp is weak and the wax hard, and I must go to bed. P Yesterday, the wine workers gathered at a nearby vineyard, old men and girls, in tattered clothes, some lazy, some hard-working, pressing the grapes, many of them my friends. Spade-bearded Niko directed the pressing, sitting at the base of an oak, wearing a stained robe, his voice low. Women carried hampers of grapes loaded with purple clusters, the women’s skirts wet with dew, the grapes mottled with damp. Clouds made the day cool. Someone toyed with a flute, the men treading, emptying husks over sandy soil, now and then pausing to talk under the oak, the circular press letting out its red, everyone tasting. Many amphorae were broken, before they were finally filled and capped. I wanted to help. How sweet the smell flooding my nose.