Bring her back

Six draped female figures
Greet me on the porch of the Erechtheion
Enchanting maiden dancers beckoning me
With baskets of live reeds on their heads

Waving their hands on the balcony
Immaculately attired and coiffed
The maidens of Karyai weep over their looted sister
Stranded alone in the cold British museum

I try to wipe a tear off their eyes
And all I get is a dirty look
“Not acting is conniving” she whispered
Alas, one angry stare from you is worse than Gehinnom

* Gehinnom is a small valley in Jerusalem and the Jewish and Christian analogue of hell.

Sofia Kioroglou is a Greek poet, writer and perennial traveller to the Holy Land and Egypt. Her recent entry to the Festival for Poetry was singled out at the Best of February and her poems have been selected in the 26 Most Commented Writers Category of Pengician. Her poems can be found online and in print in Lunaris Review, In Between Hangovers, Galleon Literary Journal, Pengician, Galway Review, Verse-Virtual, Dumas de Demain, Books’ Journal, Poetic Diversity, Every Writer, Winamop and Aenaon to name but a few. She has work forthcoming this March in Basil o’ Flaherty. She was one of the winners in the International Competition of Epok.gr this January and her work won a distinction in the Poetry Contest of Unesco Club for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Her work is mentioned in the Winningwriters Magazine this February.