A Phoenix Reborn

Mia fora kai enan kero…
Once upon a time, not too long ago,
for four plus centuries,
successions of Ottoman Sultans
reigned down like gloomy clouds,
blocking sunlight from Grecian skies.
Terror filled her once-free air:
her rocks ached, her seas wept, her birds shrilled
her flowers withered, her people suffered—

but no longer.
Greece like a Phoenix reborn, 1821:
Freedom’s palikaria—
men and women,
their names like banners unfurled:
Androutsos, Bouboulina,
Byron, Diakos, Gregorios the 5th,
Ipsilantis, Kanaris, Keraïskakis,
Kolokotronis, Makrygiannis,
Mavrogenous, Miaoulis,
Odysseas, Papaflessas…
Names but a few—

they revived democracy’s Greek spirit,
banishing brutal barbarians
from most Grecian lands.
Sunlight shone bright through her clear blue skies—
her rocks smiled, her seas sparkled, her birds sang,
her flowers blossomed, and her people sang:
“Hïere  O, hïere Eleftheria!”

Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos

Mia fora kai enan kero. (Greek)  Once upon a time.

From the last line of the Greek National Anthem, by poet Dionysios Solonos:
“Hïere  O, hïere Eleftheria!” (Greek)  “Hale O, hale Freedom!”

The version of this poem in Greek