Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphiktyon
Whoever rushes, stumbles;
speed without prudence brings harm.
If you foolishly chase time,
it grants no mercy—
it measures your grave, sooner or later.
Many graves belong to the hasty;
they hurried through life only to be covered with earth.
All run to outrun the void,
and cast their health into the abyss.
Violence everywhere, haste everywhere,
a breathless life within a whirlwind.
Mistakes abound, bodies mourn upon the asphalt,
and those who live with prudence are few to lead.
And the powerful, on thrones built of fear,
scatter terror among forgotten peoples.
While reason could heal wounds,
they are lovers of death, hunters of war.
They bleed nature, wound her deeply,
as if she were not a mother—but a cruel stepmother.
And from their hands flows a voiceless world:
refuge and ruins—man left naked.
Children stand in line before an unknown god,
children of the criminal device,
with weary eyes burdened by evil.
Screens spread death everywhere,
and the world grows used to horror as if it were natural.
All for money—a cold world,
and the innocent pays a heavy, costly price.
The child, without voice, without any cause,
born into a generation of war,
becomes a victim—paying again.
Knowledge has risen—but what does it serve?
Progress, or weapons that scatter destruction?
Technology that, instead of enlightening, kills,
and slowly turns the world into ruins.
Justice? A shadow fading into yesterday.
Institutions collapsed, without outcry.
Love and friendship—long forgotten,
and greed adorned with artillery shells.
Αλέξανδρος ο Μέγας
built twenty-five Alexandrias;
they emptied dozens of cities.
They placed criminal tools even in infants’ hands,
while cheating in school exams,
and when those same children turn to crime at their desks,
they speak of modern folly.
They send humans to the stars, beyond the moon,
while others plunge the world into a vortex of war.
They kill without remorse, without responsibility,
and humanity watches them, helpless, in pain.
Democracy fades, oligarchy surges,
and power runs wherever it smells money.
Violence takes root even in schools,
and knowledge retreats before fire and brutality.
For glory, for wealth, for empty power,
man dissolves without perspective.
From above, he guides the bomb—
without return, without conscience, without trial, without feeling.
Justice has long been lost,
and man commits crimes with chilling cruelty.
It is time for Zeus to return to earth,
to restore order and gather the thieves.
You are the enemy—or perhaps I am,
depending on where time finds you.
But once evil slips from the hand,
it does not return—no one can recall it.
Humanity stands naked at a crossroads:
it will either be saved by justice and voice,
or be lost in a heavy global silence,
with one despot ruling over all.
Man has forgotten Dionysus’ joy,
Apollo’s light—the knowledge,
the reason of Socrates.
He embraced gods of rage and the exotic,
of Jerusalem, torn by fierce hatred and passions,
for borders, for land,
for who will seize God first.
Civilization unites the world;
fanaticism divides and kills it.
And yet—with light,
with rays of Greek spirit,
civilized societies could be illuminated.
But instead of peace, love, and life,
they choose chaos, strife, and destruction.
(17/4/26)
Amphiktyon – Major General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Hellenic Literary Society
http://www.amphiktyon.blogspot.com
https://www.amphiktyon.org