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ATHENS IN THE 1950’S
How many songs have been composed for you, beautiful city of Athens! How much you have been praised, by both us and strangers! How is it possible to forget the image I have of you, from the 1950’s? At the end of the war and in the tender years of my youth, when peace and security started to be true and we all believed in a brighter future!
At that time, things seemed accessible and miracles possible, in this beautiful city of yours, city of the past and city of the present, with its rich history and its innumerable monuments! When statues and ancient structures, remained white and resistant to the passage of the time! And the columns of the Parthenon, kept straight and proud with no visible cracks, breaks or peelings, under a blue sky and a clean and ecstatic atmosphere!
There is so much more to say about you, city of Athens in the 1950’s! About your winter, your spring, your summer, your fall! Your beautiful looks and your stance!
In the winter days, with a sun hardly warm, your cold air refreshed my chest and gave me the thirst for life! Next to the burning wood stove of my home, I used to sit and enjoy its sweet warmth! And I became enchanted by its sparkles and the wood turning slowly into grey and clean ashes!
And when spring came, even God participated in the celebration of the fragrant regeneration of life, with lemon and orange trees scenting buds, gardens in full blossom and aromatic wild flowers in the open fields! All these sent the message that nature and spring form a perfect couple! This is the time for weddings, festivities, celebrations and enjoyment!
And then, summer would come with quick steps. With its hot days and cool nights, with the breeze from the mountains and the sea, the song of the cicada and the humming of the bee, the starry blue nights, that show you the way without glitter and street lights!
And finally, the oncoming of the fall, when the sky opens up and sends its rain to refresh the ground and to clean the eminent town! With its fresh raindrops that roll smoothly on your body, playing with your skin and amusing your ears! And as a child, when dawn was breaking, I used to run to the window and look at the brooks of water running through the pipes of the neighbouring house, signalling that winter was about to come.
And what else do I remember of you? Oh, yes! The houses separated one from the other, rich or poor, and surrounded by gardens with roses and jasmines! Street doors unlocked and no fear of an attack or a robbery…
These are the images I have of you, city of Athens in the 1950’s!
Oh, my friends, I could give everything to be back, for just a few minutes, in the beautiful city of Athens in the 1950’s, which is gone and will never be back… |
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The different expressions of poetry
Elegies and poems, both creations of the mind, care only about cadence and rhythm, rhyme and symbolism, sonority and waving. Aphorisms and poetic reflections human problems try to examine, and possible solutions for them try to provide. Felicity Mat |
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Poem 4 |