Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Exploring the Grecian journey

 
“Echoes from the Cave”
Presentation of the new Poetic collection of Richard Devereux
 

Yesterday we had the privilege to attend a very exceptional and inspiring kind of event, where Richard our good friend and cowalker in the paths of Poetry, had presented at the Commonwealth House in Bristol his new Poetic collection. It was an amazing evening, filled with Poetic verses, Greek and English music, dancing, delicious Greek food (prepared by Yvonne, Richard’s good wife), excellent Greek wine, as well as with warm feelings of friendship and respect.
 
I was kindly offered the chance to say a few words and here they are:
 

I feel quite privileged and honoured to have been asked by Richard to say a few words at the presentation of his new Poetic collection, entitled with the mysterious, profound and even mystical phrase: “Echoes from the Cave”, while the sub-title is: “a fifty-year love affair with Greece”!

 
In regards to the title, I can assure you all that I have myself heard and experienced -in a supernatural way- the “ECHOES from THE CAVE”, that have been, not simply produced but, radiated, by the mind and the soul of Richard Devereux, a man of great Poetic talent, of undoubted literary intellect and of high human integrity.


“A fifty-year love affair”, to me, is not just spending some holidays now and then in Greece, neither reading a book about Greece, her history, archaeology, mythology etc. It is rather building a bridge between two great nations, namely Britain and Hellas.
 

With the publication of this new Poetic collection, I personally feel that I am actually standing here and right now on this majestic, iconic and graceful bridge.


Allow me please to share a personal experience with you. Years ago, I was coming from London and going to Cardiff. In the car there was a retired captain of the Greek Merchant Navy, who had enormously missed the sea. We were passing over the Severn Bridge and suddenly he exclaimed with joy and anticipation: “please open the window, I want to feel the breeze of the ocean and smell the scent of the sea”.
 

I have a similar feeling right now! Richard’s Poetry, as a literary bridge, brings together and intertwines the echoes from the Aegean islands and the fragrance of the Celtic seas. 
 

When I firstly read the echoing Poems, I thought that there is a dialectic which is being built there and brings into the same stadium (like the one in Olympia, where Richard had recently run, across the same length as the Ancient Greeks) the old and the new, the earliest and the modern, the historic and the contemporary. In any case, one meets this dialectic wherever they go in the Hellenic places.
 

Richard likes conversing -in the realm of his Poetry- with original creators of Poetry, like the Philhellene Lord Byron and Constanine Cavafy. Greek words embellish his verses, while humour permeates the lines. His sensitive Poetic soul cannot stand the “killing of so many flowers” and his elegant work acts like a lasting defence of lyricism, in the following verses: “fields of sea stretched out”, “In an olive grove, I grade the shades of silence”, “debating the dialectic of love”, as well as everywhere!
 

I am absolutely convinced that my thoughts and words are very poor in presenting to you accurately the power of Richard’s Poetic work. It is only his actual Poems that are able enough and highly gifted to convey this feeling of true artistic creation.
 

Thus, I shall read to you now a Richardian Poem that I have translated into Greek and have included it in my latest Poetic collection. It is one of the best Poems that I have ever read. It’s title: “Winter on Athos”! I shall read it to you in the Greek translation. Those who do not understand Greek, just close your eyes and get the feel of it…
 

Χειμώνας στον Άθωνα
 
Καθώς ο Χειμώνας ανοίγει διάπλατα την αγκαλιά του
Να αγκαλιάσει και να διατηρήσει το Άγιο Όρος,
Η χιονοθύελλα εμποδίζει και επιβραδύνει
Την ανάληψη των Προσευχών του Ιησού στον Ουρανό.
 
Η χιονόπτωση είναι πυκνή. Τοίχοι χτισμένοι για να κρατηθούν
Οι πειρατές έξω, τώρα ζωσμένοι και μονωμένοι
Ενάντια στη λεηλασία του ανελέητου ψύχους
Που απειλεί να αρπάξει τους αδύναμους και ηλικιωμένους.
 
Ένας πεινασμένος λύκος κατεβαίνει επιφυλακτικά
Και κλείνει το μονοπάτι προς το κελί ενός ερημίτη.
Οι κραυγές των τσακαλιών σχίζουν την ησυχία της νύχτας
Οι πνιγμένες όχθες των απόκρημνων χαραδρών.
 
Σε μια από τις οποίες έπεσε ο Leigh Fermor,
Και δεν ήταν καν είκοσι ακόμα. Μίλησε με τον Θάνατο
Αλλά ένας φύλακας άγγελος τον έβγαλε έξω
Και τον παρέδωσε σε μια βρυχώμενη εστία.
 
Πάνω από τις κεραμιδένιες σκεπές, υψώθηκαν,
Τους περασμένους χειμώνες, ψηλοί καπνοί,
Απαλό γκρι ενάντια στο λευκό, από φωτιές
Όπου τα δάχτυλα άνοιγαν πλατιά για να ζεσταθούν.
 
Νεαροί μικρόσχημοι μοναχοί και δόκιμοι,
Όταν το χιόνι κείται παχύ, είναι και πάλι παιδιά -
Κάποιος ξεκινά έναν αγώνα χιονοπόλεμου
Και τα μαύρα ράσα σύντομα γεμίζουν με άσπρες κηλίδες.
 
Αυτό που χρειάζονται είναι ένας φίλος χιονάνθρωπος:
Ένας αρπάζει ένα φτυάρι, ένας άλλος ένα καρότο
Και ένας θρασύς τολμά να κρεμάσει
Το μαύρο επανωκαλύμμαυχο ενός μοναχού στο παγωμένο στέμμα.
 
Αλλά δεν έχουν την ευλογία του Ηγουμένου.
Αυτό σημαίνει μπελάδες. Εκείνος έχει δει τα παιχνίδια τους.
Κι αποφάσισε να στρέψει το βλέμμα του αλλού,
Σίγουρος πως κι ο Θεός χαμογελάει επίσης.
 

Allow me to finish by saying that, to the worthy readers of this collection, I do not simply recommend some nice or even lyrical verses, I propose them to enjoy the abundance of light which is being radiated from the sky of Richard’s soul!
 
Tasos Vyzantios

1 comment:

Anastasios said...

Richard has been a grand across-the-pond friend for many, many years. We delight in his letters and can always see a quip or two that makes us smile and ponder. This collection is to be read slowly and savored. I find that reading Echoes from the Caves is an experiential look at not only Greece but a view into the soul of a dear friend.
Don and Melinda Ratchford, North Carolina