Help with "Τώρα που θα φύγεις" by Manos Eleftheriou

Hi,

I'd be very grateful if you could help me understand some parts of this beautiful song that I'm struggling with -

Τώρα που θα φύγεις
πάρε μαζί σου για φυλαχτό
μυρτιά και πικροδάφνη
και της Φραγκογιαννούς τα πάθη

Και στρώσε τη ζωή σου
μ' αγρύπνια και μαράζι
για του καιρού τ' αγιάζι
και για την αμοιβή σου
νερό του παραδείσου θα γινώ

Τώρα που θα φύγεις
πάρε μαζί σου και το Χριστό.


I've been trying the online (google/yahoo) translators, but they just clearly mangle the sense. I'm wondering particularly about "και της Φραγκογιαννούς τα πάθη" - "Φραγκογιαννούς?" And I'm completely lost on the entire second stanza (Και στρώσε τη ζωή σου/μ' αγρύπνια και μαράζι/για του καιρού τ' αγιάζι/και για την αμοιβή σου/
νερό του παραδείσου θα γινώ).

Thank you, I would appreciate it very much.

Best

k

Now that you are going away
Take with you, as your lucky charm,
Some myrtle and some oleander
And Frangoyannou's suffering.

And live your life
Sleepless and pining.
To consecrate time
and to reward you,
I will become water of Paradise.

Now that you are going away
Take Christ with you, too.

Translator's notes: "Frangoyannou" is (probably) the heroine of the famous short novel "Η φόνισσα" (the murderess) by Alexandros Papadiamantis, written in 1903. Frangoyannou is an old woman who lives on an isolated Greek island, where the men have mostly emigrated and the women are left to toil, and toil, and toil... Out of despair, and seeing no fate for them better than her own, she starts to murder baby girls - she knows why she does it, and that she must, yet she is unable to escape remorse. It is very much a novel of character, psychology, and landscape, so much so that one might miss its social and moral significance.
(Thanks to gazakas for the literary elucidation)

P.S.
I took this from the website stixoi.info

Thank you so much for your effort, and particularly for adding the literary explanation - I really do appreciate it. I note that the novel by Papadiamantis has just been issued in an English translation - http://www.amazon.com/Murderess-York.../dp/1590173503 - which I will try to get hold of, as it sounds fascinating. Thank you again for clearing up the song.

No problem kbug.