Homecountry

by Ioannis Lidorginakis

I see my homeland like the light that wakes the day

And nostalgia in my heart will never go away. 

The sun is like a golden fire above the hill

It warms the stones and olive trees and makes my spirit still.

The sand is like soft cloth that holds my feet so tight

It keeps my childhood safe and close, even when I’m not in sight.

The sea is salty like the tears I hide inside

And kardia remembers all the days I had to leave with pride.

I see the sea like a road that calls me back to land

And nostos pulls my soul home, like holding my own hand.

______________________________________________________________

Kardia: heart

Nostos: the feeling of wanting to return home, usually after a long time away.

Note from author: A mantinada is a traditional form of poetry from the island of Crete, Greece.

It is usually 2 lines (a couplet) and also usually 15 syllables per line. The two lines end with the same rhyme, and “mantinades” often express love, pain, pride, nostalgia, or home. People in Crete often say them out loud, even in conversations or gatherings, as a way to show feeling, identity, and often to exaggerate or emphasize certain feelings or circumstances. People also often improvise at that same moment when gathered, and create a “mantinada”, often to express how blessed they feel to be able to call the other friends. A very famous “mantinada” says something like: Whoever gets the chance to gather such decent and nice people and can call them friends, even if he possessed 100 liters of wine, he should drink it all (to honor them).