The cry of the sea glass

Here is what Yiannis Klouvas, my dear friend from Rhodes, who is the owner of amazing “Blue Lagoon” and “Balsamico”, told me about those beautiful pieces of sea glass.

“The Bamboulas” was a club, 500 meters from my house

at nights we could listen to the music.

Many great singers from Greece used to come there in their early years, before they became famous.

Close to that club there was a beach where we were swimming,

and next to that there was a boat yard where they were fixing boats.

The people were used to drink beers and alcohol and then throw the bottles into the sea.

It takes 30-40 years to those sharp pieces of glass to be smooth like that, while they are under the sea,

and then to reach the seashore.”

From time to time Yiannis goes there to collect them

and then at home he turns them to an art.

…Hearing from Yiannis the story of the amazing sea glass,

and looking at his photos lighted up my imagination and brought me

to write most of those poems.

The cry of the sea glass

Leftt behind

Until their tears dried

Until they came out

From a desert of water

Wearing their colors

Of spring

Waiting

To be loved.

Oil lamp of thousand years

Do you still remember the fire

Do you still remember the burns and the shades of life

Drowned in a sea of silence and eternity

Turn into frozen stone

What made You wake up this morning

Shaking off the water 

And asking for fire

To light your heart

 Once again.

Early in the morning

He goes to the sea

To fish

The sea glass.

They are spread on his sea shore

Which nobody sees

Or knows

His years.

And he pulls them from the water

And lets them start

A new life. 

Collect them

When they are smooth and

Leaving their thorns

In the sea behind

I don’t mind

Waiting

Thirty years

Till they will be

Clear

As tears

Landing on my sands

Ready to be loved.

Once, they were young bottles

Swinging in manly hands

And when they were empty

With nothing to give

They were thrown away from the club

To the sea

And were broken to pieces.

Thirty years the sea caressed them

The waves sang to them each night

Until they healed their

Broken hearts,

Until they threw off their edges

And turned smooth and bright

Like fruits on the golden sand.

The sea pours out its beads-

Hearts of green and blue and orange

Hearts of Turquoise, black or gray,

Brown, white and of two faces

Hearts that smile, sing or cry

Hearts that are ready to take a risk and to fly,

Hearts that wish to discover or to rest

Hearts that want to be

In the playground

Again.

Like the Sea

There is no yesterday

There is no tomorrow

I am sand that yearns

With all its goldness

To draw your head round,

Follow me.

So once more you will leave

And again you’ll return

To sing

To my shells

As you break apart

And curl up

Like the sea.

You will bring

Unto me

All the treasures of your heart

Whisper and weep,

Rupture and rage

As you fill my vessel

With love.

Don’t

Don’t collect any more shells

They lose their sea smells

When they awake.

 Pirate

I insist on being a pirate

Bent on capturing a ship full of love

For myself.

Trailposts

I waited for you

Without knowing the year we agreed to meet

I was a skipping bird

A butterfly flouting its colours

I was even a goldfish among the seastars

If you passed by you would have seen the

Light

Color

Water

That I shed off

Leaving you as trailposts.

If you don’t ask me to dance

I won’t show my colors

I won’t sprinkle gold

I will plunge,

In a shell –

A white pearl

Who has lost her voice

At sea.

But

If you trap me

In your net of light

And ask me to dance for you

I will rise

And dance

Till there is no water

Above.

Memories

Memories in my hand

Like the pebbles

Of the sea

That I collected.

My fingers are still wet

And blue

From the turquoise waves

Which touched

The sea that opened

In my heart.

I still stand bewitched,

By the shells, the corals and the stars

That pulled me into depths

The likes of which I’ll never know.

Tranquil now

Tranquil now

This boat which has landed

On the sands

And shrugged off all the water.

No longer touching the raging gales

Nor gathering waves

Into its body

Ravaged by those wet hands pained

Yet forgiving. Now

Tranquil

Sinking roots into

The sands.

Wikipedia

“Sea glass and beach glass are similar but come from

two different types of water. “Sea glass” is physically

and chemically weathered glass found on beaches

along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass. “Genuine sea glass” can be collected as a hobby and can be used to make jewelry. “Beach glass” comes from fresh water and in most cases has a different pH balance, and has a less frosted

appearance than sea glass. Sea glass takes 20 to 30 years,

and sometimes as much as 50 years, to acquire its characteristic texture and shape.”