Greece

Beyond the dark-peaked mountains Through vine-infested valleys Under volcanic rock, shaped like eastern ovens, Where you place your hands to bake Inside the Jacuzzis of waterfalls On serrated footpath edges dug By shepherds in fits of inspiration In the clear waters of the Aegean In the turbid thoughts of Athenian girls In Homeric lines yet to be found In father Yánaros' fist-shaking against God (As if God was an unruly younger brother*) In the hand wave marking excellence In the finger proclaiming doom There, there you will find me And when we meet The giant edifice you spent a life time Creating By piling one useless stone Upon another Your magnificently useless Wall of China Will crack and thunder as it crumbles.

Hassan Abdulrazzak

* Father Yánaros is the hero of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel The Fratricides, set during the Greek civil war.

If you've any comments on this poem, Hassan Abdulrazzak would be pleased to hear from you.