konitsa* – in memoriam 1948
* small town near the greek-albanian border; the area, the konitsa gorge in particular, saw some of the worst fighting in the greek civil war
in
the rush
of shadow
upon the gorge
the sun pounded
open on the cliff
like eucalyptus bark
a stitch of
pine and snow
darkening along
the sky’s
ridge
you shot through
like the echo
of the gun
empty
cartridges
burnished under
the flare of
the waters
sour threads
of khaki
punched into
the flesh
the blood
all of a day
to congeal
the river
failed
your dying
no more justified
in the undertow
of word.
december 1988
Copyright ©2020 Peter Le Baige. All Rights Reserved
The music is from Arvo Pärt’s ‘Fratres’ as arranged by the composer for violin, string orchestra and percussion.
Ruru ki Te Ruru 
nice combination of the absurdist beauty and violence, death amongst impassive Actuality.
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That sums it up neatly, Dean of Steve, in that most beautiful of gorges, I couldn’t help but hear mentally the echo of the gun through it that smashed someone downward into cold and running waters, cold as time.
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