Pontus Poem by Joseph S. Josephides

Tonight, in this transitory home of Visbaten, let us
converse on nostos for our Pontus in a special way.

Let us not cry for Trapezounta, Ofe and Sinopi,
for Argyroupolis, Sevastia and Paraleia. Kerasous
lift up your head, your body oh ancient Dioskorias.

Let us dance pyrrichios, in uniforms around the fire.
Tar-am-tam-tam. Home means memory and nostos,
raise up your cups, keep the strife even higher; to life.
Let us bring from the Hades our companions to dance,
here Ipsilantis dances with us, Skleros is tuned with,
a whirlwind that sweeps enemies. Save the home,
the infants, the women, the old aged, hug them all,
with a cross that wins, faith as a mountain of seeds.

Here, at Weisbaden, we dance pyrrichios, one corpus,
one flame, which burns all thorns impeding our return,
with poet’s verses, courage drawn from the dream,
with a scythe mowing what we have sowed on rocks.

It’s time for heavy winter to leave; harvest is coming;
we all with one oath, one dance, one mouth to recite:

We are never lost, since we are a Greek bulb;
suddenly it sprouts, with not a single sign before,
it matures and gives fruits out in dry foreign soil,
at any step-mother home, transitory on our way.