In rich cathedrals and poor village chapels
linked by the Aegean amphitheatre -
pebbles known to God, a string of prayer-beads
in the palm of time
illumined by a sense of the divine -
under skies cerulean and cloudless,
within countless shrines
glow icons of the Virgin and Her Child.
On Tinos, pilgrims move on hands and knees
to the Basilica, where miracles are worked
through their belief in Her eternal grace.
Only through a love so unconditional,
maternal, chaste, can ailments and indignities
on Earth be made to dissipate.
In harbour squares throughout the archipelagoes,
in cloisters and in monasteries the length
and breadth of Greece, old women are shedding tears
to ease the burden of their years,
young women reciting prayers
before the image of their faith...
*August 15 is celebrated in Greece
as the Feast Day of Maria, the
Divine Mother
15 August - Tis Panaghias
© Copyright: Jena Woodhouse, 2007
Свидетельство о публикации №107081500384
Свидетельство о публикации №107081500384
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