Santorini

On your encircled crescent arc

You hold the ocean in your outstretched arms

Of stone you stand unyielding 

To the wind and to the wave

Yet underneath the cold and stone

Still glow the fires that ancient days had blown

A mountain from its bed of blue below

With fury as the world has seldom known

But every time your fire and fury cease

Another generation from the seas

Returns to build upon your rugged curve

Determined to defy the ancient curse

What have human souls to do with you

Your unforgiving stone must stand for truth

Yet on this windswept shore a hardy vine

To serve a purpose holy and divine

Has lifted spirits from the stony ground

Though everything be dust and dry around

Ships come every season like the tide

Some have come for beauty, some for pride

Streaming then receding every day a human flood

To this place that you have bought with blood

Jewel encrusted necklace on your edge

Gazing down in silence from the ledge

In sunlight or in darkness you reflect a holy light

Eyes are drawn to wonder at the sight

Of houses made for worship and delight

A beauty so profound and true

White on white beside Aegean blue

We who come as pilgrims to your shore

Carry many burdens we are seeking to restore

Wounds from fire and fury

Some from loneliness or strife

Suffering accumulates in life

Here we find no simple answer

To the depth of human pain

But you declare to all who listen

To the truth who is the Way

In this stone there is forgiveness

Healing water, holy wine

Santorini stands to be a sign

By Vic Lortz

2023