On Dangerous Ground

For most of us, lighthouses are synonymous with trips to the shore. But for

 seafarers, lighthouses have represented a vital symbol of safe passage for   

centuries. In fact, they go back to 280 BC, when the famed Lighthouse of   

Alexandria was built — though lighthouses of the ancient world looked      

 more like battlements than the candy-striped variety we know today.            
          

           Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

       When...........   I was at school
and propably because of my age, a fool,
I hated my classes, especially geography
which later life taught to me forcibly...
                              (clear in my biography).

How can someone forget points on Earth
where he risked his life
                 [and cursed the day of his birth?

       The first unforgettable lesson I took in North Carolina,
       in Cape Hatteras, on board our overloaded boat
                                                                      [coming from China.
       
       The waves formed........ small hills,
       and we were saved
                 [thanks to our skippers skills.

       In Cape Leeuwin, South Australia,
                                               [we had the same thrills...
       
       A dangerous profession, a profession that kills ...

       I learned........... the Strait of Magellan
       where the flames of hell
                                     [marked me as a felon, 
       and a little after, I had the bad dream,
                                                            [the nightmare, 
       as we passed Argentina's Tierra del Fuego*,                                   *Fire Land
                                                           close to nowhere.    

       Indeed this edge of the world
                 [seems to be burned to a passerby.

       In many parts of the world
                              [I said to my life... goodbye,
       like the fire on our bull carrier vessel
                                                      [in the Ivory Coast... 
       The ship's name was "North Star"
                                 [for our company, a ship boast.....

       In South China Sea the colossal waves
                                                   [smashed a hatch cover,
      "The vessel's buoyancy would not recover"
       some screamed in horror,
                                             [watching the inflow of seawater,
        I needed a miracle to see again my wife and daughter....

Life placed me with the losers,
                                     [and not with the winners.

In Dante's Inferno I found myself with sinners ....
_______________________________________________


*Extract from "The Broken Mooring Line", an experiential
poetic work // page c62// 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//
_______________________________________________________________
                             

Cape Hatteras lighthouse, the most recognised US coastal symbol, stands proudly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina — despite being battered by numerous hurricanes. More than a million bricks were used to build it, and it’s still the tallest lighthouse in America.

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent, 

in the state of Western Australia.

The Cape is considered the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean; 

however most other nations and bodies consider the Southern Ocean to only exist south of 60°S.

Tierra del Fuego (/tiːˈɛərə dɛl ˈfweɪɡoʊ/, Spanish: [ˈtjera ðel ˈfweɣo]; Spanish for "Fire Land") is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. 

Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the latter controlling the eastern half of the main island and the former the western half plus the islands south of Beagle Channel.

The first Europeans came upon it in Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1520. No Europeans settled there until the second half of the 19th century, at the height of the sheep farming and gold rush booms. Today, petroleum extraction dominates economic activity in the north of Tierra del Fuego, while tourism, manufacturing, and Antarctic logistics are important in the south.

Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire  officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (French: République de Côte d'Ivoire), is a country in West Africa. Ivory Coast's de jure capital is Yamoussoukro and its biggest city is the port of Abidjan.

"Dante's Inferno"  Inferno (Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.



  the tales of a greek sailor