“Are we worthy to administer Cyprus
without damaging this world,
making it better without turning it
into a Greek provincial backwater
like Corfu or Thessaloniki.”
This was in 1953.
And it was related to 1864 and 1912.
Everything was a mix
before the mess.
The fifteenth century Chronicle.
The medieval Cypriot history
by Leontios Machairas.
And of course the Demon of Fornication.
For him,
Cyprus was a dramatic rejuvenation
of biological instinct for life.
Because it was a way
to come across customs
that he knew only as a child.
Cypriot dialect.
He recognized this world
and felt at home in it.
This is a wonder
because we know this feeling.