Welcome to my personal website dedicated to exploring the rich and emotional terrain of life through poetry.
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In my collection of Cyprus Poems, you will find my own works that delve into themes such as death and grief, growing-up, my idiosyncratic view of religion, poems on love loss, and other facets of the human experience.
Through my wide-ranging poetry on the human condition, I invite readers to join me on a journey of self-discovery and healing. Whether you are seeking solace or simply looking to deepen your appreciation of the art form, poetrylovers offers a safe and supportive space for exploration. So come, let us immerse ourselves in the beauty and transformative power of poetry together.
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U.K. - Cyprus - Yialousa
poems by Chris Zachariou
A Mirage On The Water
a poem by
Chris Zachariou
Each day at noon, I cycled
in the pungent fumes of melting tar
to a pubescent mirage on the water.
We were bound to each other
by ancient folklore of the land;
I, the young protégée of the sea,
seething, always unsated and, she
the precious daughter of the master.
Dressed in homespun blue
she glided to the beach at 2 pm
guarded by her father’s scathing
psalms and holy hymn books.
For many hours, I watched her lay
on the rocks in an other-worldly reverie
until I could almost taste the salt
and seaweed on her sunburnt thighs.
Whims of tortured youth—
We gorged on sweet apricots and figs
drifting on a raft we borrowed from
a sightless minstrel.
Vengeful monks nailed us on a cross
without mercy for the sin of youth.
We prayed for us, we prayed for Jesus
and together sought refuge from the elders
in the vastness of the cerulean sea.
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Poetry
Themes
Recent Poems by Chris Zachariou...
Featured Poems by Chris Zachariou...
Featured Collections by Chris Zachariou...
In Chris Zachariou’s diverse compilation, "Cyprus Poems," readers are transported on a poetic journey that explores profound themes that cover a wide range of human experiences such as the delicate dance with mortality, the tapestry of growth and maturation, and reflections on love and loss. The Cyprus Poems draw inspiration from the captivating landscape and timeless folklore of Yialousa, Cyprus, the birthplace of the poet, and the rich mythology associated with its heritage.
Old Stories is a cycle of love and loss poems that reflect on a parallel life in which the narrator imagines a world filled with feelings of high intensity and deep emotion. Love dominates this imagined relationship, with each partner giving their all without reserve.
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Sadly, like many relationships that begin with such idealistic intentions, their affair ends in sadness, a sense of loss and severe depression. After the breakdown, even the most mundane of daily tasks seem impossible as one must learn to live again. Acceptance is made more difficult when the reason for the separation is unclear beyond that of growing apart and the realisation that now they are just a footnote in each other's lives.
"Thirteen Silk Verses" is a series of death and grief poems in the Cyprus Poems collection
To quote a beloved poet “death is old but it’s always new.” When it is the death of someone young, it gives rise to feelings of anger and rage at a god who, at best, can be seen as uncaring but more often, as harsh and murderous. Whilst I am an atheist and cannot believe in a metaphysical world, I quarrelled with him many times late into the night, demanding an explanation for such cruelty.
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In these poems, I tried to capture both the joy of a young life and the grief felt when it suddenly ended so tragically.
Mosaics is a cycle of toxic love and loss poems on tumultuous and toxic relationships. Love can be joyful and uplifting at times and filled with anger and destruction at others. Often, miscommunication and misunderstandings can make a relationship volatile and toxic, creating bitter arguments and a breakdown. Perfectly ordinary situations can be misinterpreted, past insecurities can surface, and sometimes one or both parties in a relationship will react in an unreasonable way due to their past experiences or character flaws.
Favourite Poems
Pablo Neruda
(12/07/1904 – 23/09/1973)
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Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature.[2] Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old, and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics, political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and passionate love poems such as the ones in his collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924).
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More on Pablo Neruda at: Wikipedia
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The Dead Woman
a poem by
Pablo Neruda
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If suddenly you do not exist,
if suddenly you no longer live,
I shall live on.
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I do not dare,
I do not dare to write it,
if you die.
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I shall live on.
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For where a man has no voice,
there, my voice.
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Where blacks are beaten,
I cannot be dead.
When my brothers go to prison
I shall go with them.
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When victory,
not my victory,
but the great victory comes,
even though I am mute I must speak;
I shall see it come even
though I am blind.
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No, forgive me.
If you no longer live,
if you, beloved, my love,
if you have died,
all the leaves will fall in my breast,
it will rain on my soul night and day,
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow,
my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping, but
I shall stay alive,
because above all things
you wanted me indomitable,
and, my love, because you know that I am not only a man
but all mankind.
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