Moving Pictures on the Road to Eftalou (Lesbos)
On the stony road time is immeasureable
And irrelevant. People move slowly
On donkeys a girl with long, fair hair;
Two men, heads bound in coloured cloth
Against the morning sun, naked, shining
As a young athlete - last night’s promise
Fulfilled.
They raise hands and smile, ‘Yassou, Yassou.’
Morning is crystal
We are still
In the Golden Age.
Light sparkles, flashing
Prodial colour, prismatic
On the sea, on green mountains
Feathered with sheep
Like fallen flocks of cloud
On the small white church,
On blue-overalled children,
Swinging satchels, as they drift
To the little school,
At the edge of town,
By the vineyards.
A cluster of poplars are like dancing girls,
White bodies shining under glossy hair,
Parrying Lesbian winds - the restless ones
That tempted Sappho.
Mountains float and soar, forgetting
They are earth-bound. Amarinth
Shimmers on the beach. Everything
Stirs, reaches, quivers, except giant rocks,
Bracing eternity against motion;
Wind with its hidden torment;
The sea with jewelled touch,
Caressing and destroying.
Page(s) 59-60
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