The Hope Of Hoplite Poem by Stavros Teneketzis

THE HOPE OF HOPLITE
(AWARDED IN SALAMINA, GREECE 2012)

How blue was the color of the sea
now the foam of waves
draws on the shore only screams in red
as if the palette of majestic Zeus has dried.

Fear has sneaked in the brightest hearts.
While we strive to keep the threat ashore
Increasingly it haunts us from the sea
like a deep-ocean beast that Poseidon sent to swallow Greece.

"We are the future, not the barbarism
I call you all to stand beside me
for the glory of our country
to seal your name in eternity!
We are the children of Athena
and may our war cry echo to the glorious Sparta
giving in this last stand a tribute
to those who baptized Thermopylae
with their blood for the name of freedom.
Stand now with me brothers
in this island against the armies of oblivion and terror."
The words of Themistocles filled men with yen
like the full moon overflowing the sea.

The hope of hoplite to see his home once more
made his soul flutter.
"At dawn!
At dawn we will write history
with spears and shields.
Tomorrow our tragedians
will compose something so grand
that whoever is called Greek
will feel proud for generations."

He ablazed his father's shield
to twinkle beneath the rays of Apollo
as a frightening symbol.
He prayed to Mars
to arm him with boldness and bravery
so as to deliver his soul to Pluto
with courage and a glorious death.
He kissed his mother on the jetty
and took a place among his comrades
in the arms of the ship.

"Only united we will banish the threat of the East."

A blink is too fast to catch the moment
everything though, scorched quickly
like a vast timeless illusion.
The one who has stolen
cutting the most beautiful flower of Gods' garden
can understand the glory of Salamis.
So he felt.
He had stolen from the Great King
something so precious which overrun infinity
in front of his war frenzy.
In the ecstasy of victory
screaming merged through anger
the very essence of freedom
in the enemies' eyes and his own
for the last thing they saw
were the glittering reflections of light under the sea.

'Father, I come to you. We won father, we beat them"

After the battle only his shield was found.
In its arrow-cracked insides
were engraved the following words:
'It's so simple to surrender
in someone who just calls your name
but it is so hard to make him understand
how prized is for you the meaning of liberty.'