"WE"

By Paul Campanis

We are the ones...
We are the ones who gave you blue.
We gave you the woman refined and glorified in Aristophanes' Lysistrata
We are the ones who lit the flame.
We are the ones.
We are the ones who early set truth and meaning and stayed to pay the
price. To pay the price.
We are the ones who gave you Socrates who knew the price the body must pay for the truth.
and we gave you Ritso, whose wonder dog, Dick, the border cops were wont to
kill. Thank you Ritso.
We are the ones who fly to all five continents. Get them to put "we are the
ones," on the side of the jumbo jets so the Australian cousins will hear my
cry. We are the ones.
We are the ones who never do it on Sunday. We are the ones who man and
woman the pizza ovens into the night.
We are the ones.
We are the ones who watch the disnification of the homeland. The pure
spirit of Mycenae hovers. It lurks and insinuates.
We are the ones who gave Boston Father Jake, now archbishop of North and
South America. He is shepherd to his flock.
We are the ones who bear the flame... of justice and truth and sit there
mute as the world makes it flicker and it begins to die out.
We are the ones. We are the ones who gave you Kazantzakian passion for the
homeland, every last rock and wave. We are the ones who gave you
Kazantzaki.
We are the ones who gave you Katsimbalas, cocking up the crows of Attica.
We are the ones of the Greek madness, the passion that threatens to choke
us, the passion that may guide us.
We are the ones. We gave you the dentils that grace your suburban homes.
We gave you the feta cheese that floats on the salad. We gave unstintingly
that your belly fill up.
We are the ones of Agnew and Dukakis and Tsongas. We are the ones who
almost made president. We are the wonderful ones.
We are the ones whose stolid and supple souls match the landscape of the
island cliffs. Why did we leave?
We are the ones whose women's heads are bowed with the weight of their gold
chains. We are the donut and the salad kings. We are the ones who do keep
up.
We are the ones who care about appearances but forget we are Greek.
We Americanize gloriously and let the Greek culture go to dust. We are the
ones. We know truth but prefer tv.
We are the conscience gone silent. We are the ones who gave you
philosophy. We gave you Epictetus and his love of practical knowledge that
we refuse to use.
We are the ones who gave you the endless arguments of the coffee house. We
are the ones whose marbles are called Elgin. We are the ones. Don't
forget it. We are the ones.
We are the conscience grown strong. A Henry Miller came, saw us and left
agape. His mouth open over the wonder of our people. The Greeks. How
wonderful they really are!
We sit in the bathtub all day long like Diogenes.
We are the ones who own the Aegean.
We are the ones who gave you the lonely pine tree in the poetry of Seferi.
We run the Panormity, a rickety steamer, coursing the Aegean.
We are the ones who avoid the welfare rolls.
We are the ones who occupy the belly button of the universe, aside Africa,
Asia, Europe.
We are the ones in the middle of the mess.
We are the ones who left to live... to raise families on strange shores, to
yearn for home when there was time away from work.
We are the ones whose language would conquer the world if sound and feeling
were the major criteria of worth in the world. They aren't.
We are the ones who wonder what it all means, then turn to hear Cavafy and
Ritso tell us.
We know the words but nobody listens.
We go mute before the light of the cable tv.
We would like to speak but forget how.
We revere the pioneer generation in America but it's dying anyways.
We are the trity genea(third generation). Are you out there? Someplace?
Will you write a novel, a poem, a movie about the great Greek people?
Please!
Will you add a line to "we are the ones," and send it to me? It will be
yours. I'll put your name by it.
We are the ones to write a love poem to the homeland, the new land, any
land. We write history and in this decade of the woman, herstory. May the
Goddess smile!
We are the ones who made a god and then gave you St. Paul.
We are the ones of the glass of cold water.
We are the ones of hospitality, a generous love of humankind.
We are the ones ... stewards and stewardesses, the guardians of right, the
flame called right.
We are the ones who reject material for spirit.
We know the way. We point the way.
We are the ones of Athens airport. We invent confusion, chaos, and
clutter.
Just go try Athens airport.
We are the ones who knew scale. How to live.
We are the ones of balance. Of body, time, energy and love. We are the
ones.
We are the ones whom Gods whisper to. "Tell us," they say, "what the
Hell's goin' on? All this bustle."
and we are the ones who say, "just the barbarians jingling change in their
pockets, as they walk along. Nothing to worry. It will pass. Soon.
So we are the ones to pacify the gods.

That's the poem and these are some terms to know
In Aristophanes' play the women refused sex if the men went to war.
Ritso has a poem Ntik, Dick, about a dog the cops killed.
Father Jake became Archbishop Iakovos. He loved Teddy boy of the Red Sox.
Ted Williams.
Kazantzaki wrote "Zorba," and a lot of other nice things. A fine "St.
Francis."
Katsimbalas is a nut, the hero of Miller's "Colossus of Maroussi," the
greatest book in English on Greece. I envy him that. He got tight on the
Acropolis and called the cocks of Attica, caw, caw and they answered him
and he woke the whole city. Laurence Durrell tells the story.
Dentils are the square block ornaments that cross over suburban houses as a
kind of decoration.
Agnew was a vice president of the country who had to resign.
Epictetus believed in practical learning and education and philosophy.
Lord Elgin carried off the Greek marbles and the Greeks want them back.
Henry Miller loved our poverty, generosity, kindness and the fact that we
had all the time in the world to enjoy life.
Diogenes is a cynic philosopher who when Alexander came to ask him to have
anything he would like in the whole world he said please you're blocking
the sun. Cynic philosophers deny material things and emphasize the spirit.
Paul if you ask me I will tell you how I became a cynic.
Seferi is our greatest poet, after Cavafy of course. A great, great, human
being who lived and lived fully and loved our people and language. Our
country.
I rode this old boat when I first went. I have a picture of the Panormity.
I shall never forget how much fun it was.
Hope ye all like the poem. You should hear it when I read it. A mantra, a
marching song, a love song, a marvel to hear. I love hearing it when I
read it.