MARIA MISTRIOTI

 

 

The Night Is Close…

 

                                  Follows the light…

                                                                  Odyssey κ, ver. 86

I tried no to depict only the memories

But every time I knew from the beginning the result

 

I travel with the present in flames

The future tense is shuttered in the causality of things

 

I speak with you and like those peasant women

when they lament for the separation

They leave on the wet ground a branch of rosemary

-as a talisman for the journey –

And a ripe pomegranate which encloses their read tears

 

Those I want to send you like a song

 look like the cries of seagulls

The day weaves the garment of the night

The fog is an element of isolation

 

I lay the full moon on your hair

I speak at the present time

Even about what the past has burn down

 

Do not ask me if I felt pain

when I kissed your white lips

and I remained alone on the mountains of waves

Handsome and distant

No pale September can touch you any more

The month which we love

Betrayed us

***

 

I keep

 

I keep with tenderness

The dreams which you had thousands of years before me

 I hold in my arms the waves of seas

and I seek the cracks of rocks

where the seagulls nest in the winters

I wander my thought on the rough horizons

And I listen to the lighthouse talking

about the unfulfilled desires

of the dead sailors

 

About what has almost ended

Without the possibility of issues and repetitions

Like a bitter song traveling in the wind

I am writing you a few words

 

The sea is not always calm

The ship is not always strong

Deep wound what we love

***

 

Some day

 

Someday there will talk about us

The cyclamens the ones you picked up

to decorate my black dress

The springs

 that you painted in their mirrors our internal pictures

Some day

There will talk about us

and all those which make the pain to shine

like the trees shine

while they bleed from the weight of snow

***

 

To My Mother

 

                    who lives in my veins

I asked you if you are tired

The flames of your eyes asked to me ‘’No’’

Now I look at something which is simply a photograph

I try to unfold the wrinkles of your forehead

To read and those letters

That the bitterness carves at the edges of your lips

Strong and proud in the thick fog

You buried your blood

In a distant mountain

Of Arcadia

Helen

Copyright : Maria Mistrioti

Greece, April 5, 2026 

 

MARIA MISTRIOTI

 

MARIA MISTRIOTI: -Founder & Organizer of the World Poetry Festival ‘’Chalkida- Crossroads of Nations’’ Maria Mistrioti was born in the Greek Arcadia.  She lives in the City of Chalkida in Evvoia, Greece. She studied at the faculty of Social Workers and at a journalist workshop. The course of her inspirations is mainly the Homeric Odyssey. Maria Mistrioti has published many Poetry collections and some literary studies. She is included in Greek and foreign anthologies. Her poems have been translated into English, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Arabic, Korean, Spanish, Ukrainian, Mandarin. She has participated in many International Poetry Festivals and she was honored with special Greek and International literary Prizes, like the Special diploma and the Medal ‘’Nikolaos Kriezotis’’ by the Prefecture of Evvoia and the Municipality of Chalkida for her Cultural contribution to Greece. In 2004, during the Olympic Games in Athens, she was awarded the State Prize –Medal and a Special diploma by the Polish Ministry of Culture, at the request of the Polish Ambassador in Greece at that time Mr.Grzegorz Diemidowicz. The Prize was awarded by Aleksander Kwasniewski who was the President of the Republic of Poland for her contribution to International Literature. In 2019 She was awarded the ‘’HOMER –THE EUROPEAN MEDAL OF POETRY AND ART’’ and the ‘’IANICIUS –INTERNATIONAL PRIZE, as well as the International Prize ‘’Nikos Chadzinikolau’’ in Polish. She also was awarded the ‘’BOGDANI’’ International Prize- 2023. Furthermore in 2023 she was awarded the ‘’FENIKS’’ International Prize, as well as the ‘’ MEDAILLE MIHAI EMINESCU’’ and the ‘’Diplome Ambassadeur Cultural’’ By the Academie Internationale ‘’Mihai Eminescu’’. In 2023 she was awarded ‘’ACCADEMICO AD HONOREM E MEBRO TITOLARE’’ by the ‘’ ACCADEMIA INTERNAZIONALE LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR’’. Maria Mistrioti is a full member of the Greek Literary Society and a member of the new members judging committee. In 2023, She was awarded with the special Prize ‘’ Poet of the Year 2023’’ from the Suwon KS International Poetry Festival in Seoul. She also was honored by the International ‘’GOLDEN BRIDGE AWARD’’. In 2024, Maria Mistrioti was honored with the ‘’ LE PRIX De l’ Academie Internationale ‘’Mihai Eminescu ‘’ 2024 Pour la Promotion des grands Valeurs Culturelles Mondiales ‘’ as well as with the Special Diploma of ‘’ Ambassadeur Culturel l’Academie Internationale ‘’ Mihai Eminescu ‘’. The Prizes Awarded by University Professor and President of International Academy ‘’Mihai Eminescu’’ Dr. Ion Deaconescu –during the VIII International Poetry Festival in Romania, Craiova. In 2025, Maria Mistrioti was declared a member –ACCADEMICO AD HONOREM by the ACCADEMIA DELLE ARTI E DELLE SCIENZE FILOSOFICHE (In Bari of Italy). In 2025, she also was honored ‘’DI AMASCIATRICE DEL PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE DI POESIA LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR by the International Academia LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR. In 2025, Maria Mistrioti was honored with the International LITERARY AWARD KATHAK 2025.

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