Rain in Athens

Rain in Athens -
Friday morning, June 9th.
Waiting again at the gas station:
the roaring traffic,
the crashing pumps,
an attendant shuffling his dirty wad of cash
his broken syllables give lie
to the neon promise of glamour and speed.
Then home
to twenty six TV channels of garbage,
to bank statements and telephone bills,
to the garish ejaculations
of the fast food menus scattered by the door.
There is a curious freedom here,
a freedom our grandfathers gave their lives for,
a freedom we stumble across
in the late night footage
of pale limbs and faces desperate
with the foreknowledge of what is to come
etched in their eyes -
Arbeit Macht Frei and Babi Yar
and all the things we choose to forget.
A freedom we confidently relinquish
but for the morning rain.

(c) Philip Ammerman, 2006