Carpe Diem 974 Cyprus

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring a new episode, a new stage, of our Europe Ginko, our journey straight through the EU. Today we will visit one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, Cyprus.
I have never been there, but I have heard stories about the beauty of Cyprus ... so I am looking forward to discover Cyprus using the WWW.

Flag of Cyprus

Cyprus officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off
the coasts of Syria and Turkey. Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the
Mediterranean, and a member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004 and is located just
40 miles south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of
Egypt and east of Greece.

The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeo-logical remains from this period include the wellpreserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, and Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in theworld. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in
two waves in the 2nd millennium BC. As a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians and Persians,
from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt ,  the  Classical and eastern Roman Empire, Arab caliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878.

Map of Cyprus

Cyprus is still divided into two parts, a Turkish and Greek part. There is an ongoing “battle” to
become a free country, which was at reach in 2013 as the Democratic Rally (a politic group) won the elections for a new president.
Recently (2008) a wall that split the capitol Nicosia in two parts (as for example was in Berlin) was
demolished and the citizens of the both sides of Nicosia could finally see their relatives in the other
part of the city.

broken heart
families torn apart
tears of Nicosia

© Chèvrefeuille

healed heart
finally the broken sunflowers
reach for the blue sky

© Chèvrefeuille

As I was doing my research for this episode on Cyprus I really was amazed that there once was a wall in Nicosia, that split the city in two. I immediately thought about the Berlin Wall ... and I thought "Why do people hate each other that much that they are willing to built a wall to divide their cities?" I think that there is no answer on that question ...

Of course I found also beautiful images of the beauty of this Mediterranean island. Its nature is gorgeous and breathtaking. I really hadn't thought that this island would be this beautiful ... I was amazed and in awe ...

Kalidonia waterfall

The Kaledonia waterfall is one of the oldest known waterfalls in Europe and it looks magnificent I
would say. The Kaledonia waterfall is situated in the Troodos Mountains (on the "left" side of the
island, see map).

Troodos Mountains in Winter

clear blue sky

fragile snow landscape

winter on Cyprus

© Chèvrefeuille

It's really a beautiful island. Maybe you know that the Greek pantheon was settled on mount Olympus. Well .... Cyprus has its own Mount Olympus.

Mount Olympus

where to they live
the Greek gods here or there
twin brothers

© Chèvrefeuille

Okay as you all know I am not that great in using humor in my haiku, but I think in this last haiku I succeeded in a little way.

In every episode of our Europe Ginko I try to bring haiku written by poets living in the countries we are visiting and I really was amazed to find a lot of haiku written by Cypriot haiku poets. I really was in awe ... so many haiku poets on one island ... awesome.

Here are a few examples of haiku by Cypriot haiku poets:

Vakis Loizides: 

Akin to fig tree
leaves, you’re spinning a web with
nothing but silence. 

Maria Martidou-Theophanous: 

A butterfly

that’s clung to a flower

this is my psyche.

Myrianthe Panayiotou-Papaonisiphorou: 

And so the moon was
walking next to you along
the pathway.

Evrydiki Pericleous-Papadopoulou: 

And as the night falls

it looms along the backdrop,

a captive ocean.

pomegranate

Giorgos Petousis: 

Your lips of fire
bud of a pomegranate
tree, arouse lust. 

Mona Savvidou-Theodoulou: 

The cherry tree gives

in memory of colors

a kiss of crimson.

Ayis Charalambides

‘Tis the cyclamen
that dominates the boulder
over the waves.

!! I found these haiku HERE !!

I hope you did like this episode and of course I hope that could inspire you all to write new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry forms.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 15th at noon (CET). I will publish our next episode, Denmark, later on. For now ... have fun!