LONG LISTED FOR THE 2023 GRIFFIN POETRY AWARDS
And now that we’re done with big words, deeds,
dreams, time to relive our lives, however futile it might be;
the city plans have been altered. Where is the road we loved
when we were children? Where is the wind that blew away
all our comrades, are there any people left? Some old songs
get mixed in our tongue, no one understood us other than
the children who guessed many things, though they grew fast
and birds flew away so they wouldn’t remember: such a past
and nothing was left but ash as we stooped at night and drew
flags, stars, hills, horses with regret between them,
that we hadn’t given them all up
thus we freed past oaths and
the most beautiful future gestures.
Manolis Aligizakis 