Chasmophytic Crete
on Sheila Ash (India), 13/Jul/2018 11:14, 34 days ago
This is a tough landMoonscaped roughness scuffs the skiesMore stone than scrubthe high desert, Lefka Ori, liesbaked by day and chilled by night.Eight thousand feet high Pachnes peaksBeyond the snow capped summitsGriffon vultures soar and plummet.In limestone cragsRare Campanula and Helichrysum huddle,Generations of sheep and shepherds struggle.From these inhospitable heights, myths emerged.A little East, where Rhea fled,a god was born, his Curetes guardian’s drummingthunders on in village streetsin the steady, sombre,Kritikos syrtosdance beats.Well after mountain fog has burnt awaymorning dew steadfastly slithersdown deep gorges scorched across the landlike notches from a bloody battle slain,The landscape of hasty changesFrom caves as deep as HadesCanyons unexpectedly cascadingThe flooding treachery of sudden rain.To call this home, we cling to crevice and cliffsure footed goats hardened by climate and geography,In these impenetrable hills, rebels hidto stubbornly repel all invaders–Venetian, Ottoman and Nazi lords -only to begrudgingly accept the tourist hoardswho leave their cars at Omalosto take to mules to trek acrossthe cobbled Kalderimia tracksbefore heading backfor ice cold beers in Chania.© Sheila Ash, 2018ashramblings