A poem for the 200th Anniversary of the struggle for freedom and independence

We offer you the following poem by Dr. Louis Gaitanis, as we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the struggle for freedom and independence:

Join a circle of Greeks dancing
Hold the hands that held the hands
Of heroes of the Second Battle of Marathon
When Axis Powers were stopped by ragged Greek bands
A stand that changed the course of World War II
And history came full circle, like the dance.

Join a circle of Greeks dancing
Hold the hands that held the hands
Of Soulian women who one by one left the circle
Dancing off the mountain to deny the enemies’ demands
Preferring death to surrender to the Turks and making true
The freedom call: “Better one hour of freedom
than forty years of slavery and jail.”

Join a circle of Greeks dancing
Hold the hands that held the hands
Of martyrs who held aloft the light
From Byzantium to the western lands
The light first saved at ancient Marathon by the few
Who stood against the Asiatic hordes and
In so doing a continent
And a new world as well.

Come join a circle of Greeks dancing
And hold the hands
That held the hands
That held the hands
Of Homer.