Copyright (2010) Gaye Hegeman

Place of Tears

A roadside memorial
near Potamos
along the Agia Pelagia road,
became our destination one sunny
but windy April afternoon.

Known as the “place of tears,”
this 1908 memorial
marks the point of departure
where families from a bygone era
farewelled loved ones,
about to leave the Island.

On the cold, unadorned
concrete seats that mark the site,
we reflect back to the year 1897
when our own grandfather,
at the tender age of fifteen
assembled,
bound for Sydney, Australia.

We try to imagine the tears
that flowed, the warm
embraces exchanged.
Neither he nor his brother,
who followed a few years later,
returned to the Island
nor saw their parents again.

In memory of Theo George Andronicos (1881 – 1948)
Emmanuel George Andronicos (1876 - 1910)