From the poetry book -16 Reflections- by George Vassiliou
APOPEIRA Editions, Athens, Greece

Navarinou 18-20, Athens, Greece-10680, Fax(011-30)(210)363-0376


AIRPLANES FROM FARAWAY PLACES

When Bill walked in the room
I could not help remembering
times from the recent past
when carelessness had its place
and my friend, like him,
was leaving for Paris
in a flair of escaping
from his past, you know...
The established, or better
the injected ambitions
the parents through children achievement,
oh, same thing as usual,
do you know, or don't you?

So Bill walked to the table,
sat, ordered a beer,and,
the eternal subject came up:
Love...
Well, you know,
-or don't you?
I finally get it,
I think I finally know,
I understand folk singers now
singing in passion,
a sort of a pretentious one, and,
yet real, they feel it,
singing all these simplistic
lyrics and songs
and on and on the same story.

Is it history that repeats
itself in a circle,
or is it our life on the planet
being long in a sense
or short in another, or,
simply the same thing goes on,
nothing changed
and I know...,so what?
But, you know, -or don't you?-
the problem of love
gets different,
although we sing it in harmony,
since for one it is pleasure
for other is passion,
for me it's survival,
now that I think of
past good times and the ones
yet to come,
as the echoes of last night
hurt my back, still sore
from beds of drunken
lust and exhaustion
that brings this
lethargic sleep
feeling like
radiation treatment
at times,
over my strained body
but hey, why complain?
pleasure is there.
And still,
the smoke, the whiskey,
-gee, what would the world
be doing without them?-
And us, at tables, in bars
in cities of noise,
landing in the middle of the night,
like airplanes from faraway places,
see the lights?
The lights of the city
and us, part of it,
for love, hate,
life, death. And love...
So far...no substitutes...


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Copyright © 1998 G. Vassiliou
Fotos: B.Moore