The Parthenon
Lingering last looks at the dominant edifice
Rising all above else.
Columns growing it seems from the hill itself.
Upwards, reaching to the skies.
They say, that in sacred hills and mounts
Mystical beings and spirits reside.
Invisible they are to the naked eye.
If so, hear my call, ye all.
Lend your spiritual "arms" to this city.
Looking around I see more mountains
Circling this city as it were,
With very few gaps in between.
I am addressing you, oh ye mountains.
This height and power that you have gained
Spans ever so many, many years.
Come, rise higher in spirit now
Shake loose your inert , dead sleep.
Allow those forces to rise again
That were there aeons ago.
For the Life -Line of Ellada
Trembles from within
Manifest it here and now !
Helios, your shine is falling now on me
Like a young, robust man of the dawn.
What say you, send your penetrating rays
Into those that would make the difference,
To this city and its spread ?
Make it great and glorious again.
The air waves now filled with noises
From the movings down below
The streets full of vehicles
Rushing to and fro.
The air above threaded with streams
Of foreign tunes and words
Non- Greek and therefore unsuited to me.
Why, every time Michaelis calls himself Mike
And Bassiliki is known as Becky,
Know that an unseen drop in Ellinika
Has taken place in their psyche.
The greatest pollution that needs to be feared,
Is from the fumes of cultureless cultures,
Robotic and lethal in every imaginable way.
Athina, virgin warrior divine
Your vigor pours into championing heroes,
Rescuing the distressed, in so many disguises,
Engaging in battles for the right.
Do not hide in statues, paintings and so forth
Not even in the letters that hold your name.
Instead, use every weapon that the Greeks have
Whether they be rich or poor
To defend the Ellada of today.
Strike your palms on your thighs
Twang your bow far and wide
So each and everyone
Subject to the deafening sounds
For act they must, no more lying low
Not just to reclaim, but more
To further the glory of their past
Weave it into the present
A fabric then, new and bold !
The land whose wise and bold ones
Gave to the rest of the world
Treasures, too many to count.
Treasures to reach the stars
To rule the land
To connect with nature
To heal the sick
To codify, classify and analyze,
Essentially all that one needs
To make life worth living.
Here they say to all of us
The greatest truth, testing time and space
That, indeed " Creation never began."
Here is where the naked truth
Was revealed in all art forms
" That God was made in the image of man."
Here is where the marauders found fit to explode
Beliefs, temples and clans galore.
But, here thrives, by Athina's grace
Old olive trees, to the earth, well rooted.
And Aphrodite's white doves
Ply trails up in the sky.
Both proclaiming peace on earth and above
The way no man really can.
Where words accompanied by gestures
Flow together in harmony,
Which reminds us all,
That here humanity still abides.
For the sunlight that shines here, like nowhere else
Leaves a mark so distinct
For Ellada's future, so bright !
Vasanti
Oct.23 2017
Athens Gate Hotel, Athens
Read at Rivertown Poets Night, Dec 4 2017