Cypriot Choice
(1967)
God-given, God-forsaken land of sun,
Once-favoured Cyprus — island of renown
Set boldly in the waters of that sea
Which had, for ages, mothered History
In Earth’s most forward cultures and ideals:
Reputed site of Aphrodite’s birth
Where she stepped, perfect, from the natal foam
Bejewelled with Poseidon’s droplet-gems
And clad in Beauty’s rare, transparent charms:
Warm, fruitful island, blessed by Fortune’s hand —
Where monasteried mountains silently
Lush, year-embracing orchards contemplate —
Whose fresh ingredients, skilfully mixed,
And stewarded adroitly by keen minds
Suffice to guarantee prosperity:
Castle-crowned State, Kolossi’s massy keep,
Crag-climbing St Hilarion’s slim walls,
Kantara’s cliff and Buffavento’s pile
Adorn its scenic front as diadem
Never could grace the noblest human brow:
Alas!. That this apparent healthiness
Is false!. Alas, for black Othello’s isle
That, underneath this wholesome outward bloom,
Dissension gnaws, like cancer, it its life!.
Fret symptoms tear cursed Cypriots apart
In fierce, unreasonable bitterness
Of heart and fratricidal mania!.
Inside their ancient bastions confined,
Constricted Nicosia’s twisted lanes
Are symbols of this tangled tragedy
Of partisan, synthetic, bigot zeal.
A Vision of the Future should not be
As narrow as those convoluted streets
Which sew this capital, within its walls,
As if it were a body mummy-wrapped
Beyond all hope of present usefulness.
A Vision of the Future should include
A far horizon where Ambition’s dreams
Can be expanded infinitely wide
To bring real opportunity to all.
Can Cypriots not live in their own land
As siblings, sharing rich prosperity,
Without suspicion poisoning their hearts?
Why should Cyprus’ sons and daughters
be crushed in the press of stark unreason,
So that their blood is spilled onto the ground
As wastefully as careless vintners pour
The juices of their gardens’ varied fruits?.
Should not this stream of goodness rather be
Decanted to a vessel worthy for
Such preciousness — as new-made wine is stored
In bottles, carefully, against the day
When, aged mature and tasteful, it may yield
Its promise in its own, distinctive way?.
Is not the vessel for this priceless blood
An independent national heritage?.
Brave Cypriots!. Cease quarreling and think:
If, in bygone years, Earth’s greatest rulers
and history’s most mighty empires fell —
Destroyed, not by external armaments
Battering down their strong defensive walls ,
But through the indefensible attacks
Of disaffection’s grim, internal pox —
How then can your small nation overcome
That vile, contagious, fatal malady?.
It is not yet too late to find the cure —
Though Time’s swift sands, for honest Cypriots,
Have almost run themselves through his thin glass —
It still is possible to win reprieve
By now reversing that same instrument
With one bold action of your own, thereby
Ridding yourselves of your infirmity.
The cure which you wise Cypriots must choose
To save yourselves from horrid, nightmare Fate,
Is Brotherhood with Charity combined.
Embrace your neighbours, be they Greek or Turk!.
Forget your false, divisive arguments!.
You are one family, children of the same
Mixed marriage, all meriting the confidence,
Affection and respect true siblings know!.
Exchange the blighting curse for the sweet kiss
Of understanding and fraternal love!.
If you should fail to do the right thing now,
Beware!. Above you, on his noisome steed
Of catastrophic War, the Devil waits
To punish you and Chaos looms beside
To raze your homes and damn your little ones
To unjust tortures for Eternity!.
Can you not hear the pestilential glee
Of that atrocious pair of gloating Fiends
Increasing in your ears as you decline
Daily in strength, exhausted by your mad,
Unnecessary civil war, which none
But you can lose?. Deny them their success
By drinking from the Cup of Wisdom, now!.
The choice is yours alone. If you refuse
To choose — or if your choice is wrong — you yield
Your heritage, your nationhood to Hell!.
But if you choose aright — if in your hearts
The Vision of the Future is writ large —
You shall be cured of your debility;
Winning, thereby, unending happiness
And peace. Cypriots!. Choose your Destiny!.
