Eleftherna Venerations
485. Ve gave them our best venerations
Here on the mountain in Eleftherna,
Ve spawned seed, acorns and nectar
On stony ground, among prickly straws,
In deep ravines, on stony cliffs.
486. Venerations grew forth
In the lazy dust, the swidden heat,
In the time it takes
A kermes oak to sink into the ground,
In the time it takes
A city to be reduced to rubble,
Upon old stones,
Among antique seeds.
487. Come in under my shadow
And ve will show you,
What a seed can really do;
Warrior, slave, senator, matriarch,
Here where the stone stands,
Where you were lowered down,
Sacrificed, forgotten and dug up again.
488. There, ve raised a memorial:
My fruit at the headstone.
On necropolis now they stand:
The two ladies of Eleftherna,
Fitted into each others shapes,
Composite sisters in stone and wood,
Until ve, an olive olding,
Decays and withers to dust,
While the stone remains
From my veneration to the next.
489. Come down into the gulley
And ve will show you,
What fig trees can really do;
Keep the mountain in a grip
For coming generations.
Ve hold your memories and knowledge,
Half secret, half hidden,
Urns, amphoras, weapons, shields;
The little ox and the hind half in leap
Caught in fired clay,
Hammered into gold.
490. Come in under this wall
And ve will show you,
What ivy really wants:
Along the agora,
Down the mountain side,
Overflowing ancient walls,
Descended in straight line
From ancient seeds,
Growing venerations of ivy
In depth and glory of shiny leaves.
491. Approach,
Ve are living layers
Of sun-baked, sucking, slicking bees.
A buzzing ruckus
So loud, that you stop,
In wonder at what you see:
492. Ve show you the queens of the city,
And Elefthernas reiterations:
All the temples, all art,
The tower, the earth quake, the columns,
All the villas, the cisterns,
All states, all wars.
Ve have seen generations
Stack these stones and
Sleep under these stars.
And here ve stand
Until they meet again.
New in Index Ten Thousand:
Ravine ◦ 485, Veneration ◦ 486, Kermes oak ◦ 486, Shadow ◦ 487, Ve ◦ 487, Sisters ◦ 488, Gulley ◦ 489, Fig tree ◦ 489, Hind ◦ 489, Ox ◦ 489, Ivy ◦ 490, Ancient ◦ 490, Ruckus ◦ 491, Slicking ◦ 491, Earth quake ◦ 492, Queen ◦ 492.
Glossary: Ve is the vegetal identity and personal pronoun. Veneration is the vegetal generation and keeper of the ground.
Eleftherna is the ruins of an ancient city on Crete, inhabited from ca. 900 BCE to 800 CE.
