1. |
Waves on the Aegean Sea
02:07
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2. |
DELOS
04:27
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3. |
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4. |
Walk/Arrive/Escape
04:37
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I WALK with the company of King Attalus, to pay tribute to Apollo in Delphi. A two storey stoa has been built to honour our victory over the Galatians. It is hot. The leather of my sandals creaks and moans in time with the wheels of the royal chariot.
We ARRIVE at 1am along the 48 through the mountains and still busy streets of Arachova. Tomorrow we will visit the Sanctuary of Apollo and walk the Sacred Way through cypresses and almonds.
I ESCAPED Aleppo three years ago, abandoning my pupils, though few by then remained. I spent time with my cousin in Lebanon before moving on to Turkey. I’m now in Greece, and moving on moving on moving on. This frightening journey.
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5. |
DELPHI
04:27
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Sheltered underneath an almond tree
Three women sit and close their eyes
Yellowing leaves that fill the air
Falling down around, around
Butterflies dance shadows over rock
Birdsong sounds out from column top
Three women sit and close their eyes
Looking forward, looking back
Three women sit and close their eyes
‘xeropotamas’, rainless skies
Over the centre of the earth
Where the rivers do run dry
Overhead a drone with whining eye
While underneath no vapours rise
Bowing our heads, what can we do
Three women close their eyes
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6. |
The beach at Bisceglie
00:56
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7. |
MONTE SANT'ANGELO
03:36
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Moon travelling with us today, sinking softly. An old man stands in a small grove of fruit trees leaning, looking. Fly-tipped verges shed bright blue green white plastic into olive orchards. The road crusted with pot holes passes by water parks and deserted homes, graffiti and castellations. We’re driving through the flat lands, mountains ahead. Men in the town sit with bellies softly folded, chatting. Women are brushing doorsteps. The air is clear bright and high, a mountain top ringing out beyond the distance of bells, insistent flow and spate of campanile – cantabile. Beneath is the rock cave. Revealed beauty of earth brushed by wings. Only quietness, only presence. This place is magical, real, beyond. For now there is nothing else, only to be here in this place. Outside the dogs are still barking and the bars serve bitter fluorescent aperol spritz as evening comes on. The town gazes out. Far below are lights and coastline – people settling as the stars slowly rise, and start their songs.
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8. |
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9. |
PERUGIA
02:14
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water - and the absence of water
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10. |
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11. |
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And the stars move round you – like supermarket shoppers on CCTV, like light catching minnow swimmers flitting, like brake lights in a car park far below.
We're longing for a safe place to grow. And as we move on we’re birds migrating, flocking to the promise of this long valley. We're longing for a safe place to grow. And as we move on we’re trees migrating, dragging our roots northwards to cooler ground.
A feeling of home, a memory of home, what meaning is home, what feeling is home?
Fear that grows where borders cross. Kindness when you meet it.
As the stars move round you
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12. |
Hum on the A71
00:33
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13. |
MONT SAINT MICHEL
06:23
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Where the wheel’s no longer turning
And the robin looks and stands
And the days ahead uncertain
Rushing water over sand.
Iron-rimmed or digital
Crowds our silence
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