The park of peace and friendship

I love juicy blackberries, I'd eat the damn lot
if these were blackberries, but they are not.
They're inedible berries that turn green and black,
that pretty pink flower - it's quite cherubic.



They're found in a park in my little town's centre
which no one has bothered to open for summer.
Why is it that our local council did not
lease out the canteen to refresh us when hot?



Wait till you hear what the council has named it
EIRHNIS FILIAS - Park of Peace and Friendship.
It does seem quite peaceful in an eerie manner,
but where are the friends who can play in its theater?

It's boiling in Hania on a daily basis,
but no one seems interested in kids' happy faces;
when I sit with my children in this empty park
I wonder if it's safe to walk through in the dark.

We could be out here in the late evening time
watching the clock tower calling out its chime
that it's not too late to go home, not quite yet,
that we can always wait at least till sunset.



Maybe the council does not understand English
and I should have chosen some other language
to voice my opinion; maybe in Greek,
maybe that is what would make them all think.

Why did the council spend money to build this,
when all it does now is grow tired and listless?
There should be some children running up and down,
to light up the life of this little town.

Had it been owned by some private business
it would have been operating right until Christmas.
It's never too cold to sit out in the sun;
even in winter, Hania's weather's fun.

Instead of a canteen all busy and running
for townies who find it too far to go swimming,
we must contend with a locked up cafe
and turn on the A/C to cool off the day.



As for real blackberries, I know where they grow;
in fields in the village, they're used as hedgerows.
As a gourmet, I know when they're best.
Most people don't know them; they think they are pests.

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