BELOW THE ACROPOLIS – MARCH 2000
In the Agora
bright red flowers
from seeds older than Socrates or wisdom
Converse among the grasses
and look up
at the temple covered hill
Category: Travel
GROWING YOUNGER – GREECE 2000 A.D.
GREECE 2000 A.D.
Standing in front of the statues of the wise
noting how very wise they were
To be born at a ripe old age
and grow younger every year
Socrates for instance
(469-399)
certainly got it right
being born at seventy
and working backwards
to that point
of light
IN GREECE
IN GREECE
In Greece
I remember and meet
myself everywhere
I am Socrates questioning
I am the athlete striving
the architect planning
the builder building, the potter shaping
the sculptor seeking, the warrior dying
and the poet pointing
In Greece
I am all men and all gods as well
and I remember
How many times in this life alone
I have pushed the rock endlessly uphill
Carried the world on my shoulders
Had my liver eaten by the savage bird
How many times
I have fallen in love with my own
reflection
Reached out for the sweet grapes and
sweet water
to find them moving always beyond my
grasp
Been forced to echo only what others
have said
Tied myself to the mast to resist the
siren’s call
Fought in a thousand wars
full out on the open field or sea
or hidden in the belly of a wooden horse
GREECE – INDEPENDENCE DAY 2000
GREECE – INDEPENDENCE DAY 2000
We stand in the sunlight of Athens
birthplace of democracy, philosophy
theatre and reason
Here man first learned true freedom
Created gods
in the image of his vices and his virtues
and learned to embrace and best them all
Stores in Athens close for the parade
people gather from miles around
For hours past the viewing stand
soldiers and sailors march in step
Overhead the jets and choppers
roar by in strict formation
Thirty deep and more
people push and flow and smile on cue
I search the marchers and the crowd
Looking for that one toga, one book
One independent mind
One ancient Greek
KAROLINA
KAROLINA
Artist Laureate of Mykanos
her adopted town floats above the canvas
Windmills dance on the hills
church domes and white houses
rebound light across the narrow lanes
Ships bob on the bluest water
watched by pink pelican and faithful dog
In her pictures, handsome Greek men
work the boats and bars
Forty years from Boston town
she knows too much of these men
but the island nights get cold
Her art raised their two children
it cost a lot
But to marry one of these
patriarchetypical sons of pirates
would have cost more soul
than this artist or her art would pay
MOMMA IN MYKONOS
MOMMA IN MYKONOS
Marolina says, enjoy the room
my eighty two year old mother
lives on the first floor under your stairs
call on her if you need anything
Momma doesn’t understand our English
but most important that we understand
she could understand, but chooses not to
She also knows that her daughter
must rent the rooms above her head
but she will not look up
THE SEA
THE SEA
In two days
three hours on the friendly sea
Back and forth from Mykonos to Delos
past rocks with good seats for sirens
rocking in a cradle still rocking
since the gods were young
Feeling the wake of the island
where she floated invisible in the mists
before agreeing to dig in her feet
and challenge the jealous Hera
providing Leto a birthplace for the
ever grateful Apollo and Artemis
Feeling their blessings
MOSAICS
MOSAICS
On Delos a floor caught my eye
with an Escher like mosaic pattern
Optical illusions of rectangles in rows
still bright after thirty centuries
Next day in a New York airport
we take our seats in the lounge
fabric covering the chairs
in exact same pattern
OWLS TO ATHENS
OWLS TO ATHENS
One does not take coals to Newcastle
or owls to Athens
But it is good to go
with an appreciation of coal and owls
Is is also permitted to leave Newcastle
with a bit of coal in one’s pocket
Or Athens with a small bronze of an owl
And memories of a questioning call
floating across the Agora
to the small cliff restaurant
Where we rest on the long climb down
from all the heights of the Acropolis
CHURCH TOUR OF EUROPE
CHURCH TOUR OF EUROPE
Churches along the Rhine look down
in dark and sombre judgement
on the towns below
In Milan the stone itself if full of light
it’s celebration lifting you to God
The forefathers of all French waiters
build Notre Dame to their own glory
But I lit a candle there for Dan
and he got well
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