Seafarers Have No Enemies

                 Near the Suez Canal Region

    The Six-Day Arab–Israeli War 

          left in the Middle East the known scar…

          My ship was loading in Egypt, 

          near the Suez Canal region.. 

          I was informed of another Greek ship's existence, 

          in a few hundred yards distance, 

          but in hostile territory to the Egyptians… 

I'm not good at descriptions, 

but you will realize the funny situation, 

as there was a war seeming cessation, 

and the Greek vessels, almost side by side, 

at the ports of opponents were tied, 

to load crude oil in order and in peace…. 

           A guy from the Egyptian military police, 

           told me that it is forbidden to go ashore… 

           When he left I locked the door, 

           and I called on the VHF the other ship.. 

          …a Greek replied to me with the following quip: 

                   ''does it makes us enemies that we lie 
                                                      [between conflicting?'' 

           Ι replied that,
                   ''our presence is not depicting 

                    the real will of ships crews, 

                    and these are just fairy tales for 
                                             television news..

                    The only people who have no enemies 
                                                                     are seafarers, 

                    these poor prisoners without jailers 

                    are friends with all belligerents of the earth, 

                    and a trip into a war zone means mirth, 

                    mirth for they will get double pay, 

                    pay that someone might have called 
                                                                  death play….''
_____________________________________________________


* Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an experiential
poetic work // page c8 // e-mail: pmataragas@yahoo.com //
Texts and Narration: Odysseus Heavilayias - ROTTERDAM //
Language adjustments and text adaptation: Kellene G Safis - CHICAGO//
Digital adaptation and text editing: Cathy Rapakoulia Mataraga - PIRAEUS

___________________________________________________


The Tales of a Greek Sailor