Language, theater, poetry, curiosity,
roots of nourishment,
washed away by intellectual erosion;
 

Ethnic (non)identity,
 reflected at church festival

Odysseus

13 X 2024

POSEIDONIANS
by Constantine P Cavafy


The Poseidonians forgot the Greek language
after so many centuries of mingling
with Tyrrhenians, Latins, and other foreigners.
The only thing surviving from their ancestors
was a Greek festival, with beautiful rites,
with lyres and flutes, contests and wreaths.
And it was their habit toward the festival's end
to tell each other about their ancient customs
and once again to speak Greek names
that only few of them still recognized.
And so their festival always had a melancholy ending
because they remembered that they too were Greeks,
they too once upon a time were citizens of Magna Graecia;
and how low they'd fallen now, what they'd become,
living and speaking like barbarians,
cut off so disastrously from the Greek way of life.

“Gyro, Mousaka, Ouzo, OPA!”

Στην αγριάδα ομορφιά, 
άνθη στο σάβανο φύσης 
η Αφροδίτη αγκαλιάζει τη Γη

Η Δημητρα
καλωσορίζει την Περσεφόνη 
η άνοιξη χαμογελά

Μάιος 2019, Ραφήνα

Beauty in the wild,
flowers, tapestry of nature 
Aphrodite embraces the Earth

Demeter
welcomes Persephone 
Spring smiles

The warmth of spirit,
delightful sounds
Ecstasy abounding
trees blossoming
rebirth, hope, opening
Anoixi, opening, Spring
Prima vera, first truth, Spring
Memories of past
pleasant faces
Family gatherings, children’s laughter
dinner with music;
harmony of elements
A dance of spirit
the dance of life
Our nectar, ambrosia,
affirmation with destiny
dreams you can touch
A fine vintage
smooth as seashore contours;
waves breaking the silence,
relaxing us more
We drink, soak it in;
reflecting, feeling
the renaissance

OM

Thoughts are fluid,
in aura of colors;

Αλχημεία χαλάρωσης,

δάπεδο ισορροπίας

Alchemy of relaxation,

tapestry of balance

31 January 2025

I sit, reflecting on frames of life,

pausing, as if each a 8 mm vignette;

We continue on journey;

Charon, never unemployed,

earthly existence, measured gift;

Helios smiles, filling void with warmth;

incline of hope, slope of one-plus;

Field of  vision, on par with negative,

science, fervently working to reverse;

Brethren, there is light

at a speed not fast enough

We await as Stoics,

We expect as Optimists,

Blessings to all,

Odysseus