Mount Parnassos
Nestled in the armpit
of grim, venerable Parnassos,
Agoriani's tavernas fume
from ovens crammed with kid and lamb.
Bells of browsing animals
on uplands pied with melting snow
rinse the air with drops of sound
that sprinkle foragers below.
Women in the village square,
refusing to be haggled with,
drive hard bargains on each
bunch of basil, thyme and rigani.
This bucolic alpine valley
furnishes long Sunday feasts,
enticing jaded appetites
lured from dingy Athens streets
to vistas of cold granite boulders,
frosted spruce and twisted pine -
whoosh lapsing to soundlessness
as tree-limbs shrug off shrouds of rime.
The klepsydra of daylight seeps
towards unvanquished razorbacks -
heights blue-socketed with shadow,
gold leaf lingering on peaks.
At their feet, chill dusk envelops
Chaeronia's killing-field,
where swarms of ants - voracious
hordes of sated day-trippers - retreat.
*Agoriani is a village on Mount Parnassos