Skorda's Seaside Taverna: Favorite Places: le Bistrot

Skopelos and Virgin

-by Skorda

Swallow that campari moon
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.

Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.

The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.

Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.

Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Favorite Places: le Bistrot

This is where I want to be on this lovely Saturday night in June. The Bistrot, is often our last stop of the evening-or should I say morning- high on the hill overlooking the old harbor. Although we had passed by the Bistrot every summer evening for years, we had favorite and regular places to go, and had never ventured in. We met the owner, Marco, in the festivities following Greece's victory in the EuroCup in 2004. He invited us to come join him for a drink one evening, and a few nights later we took him up on his offer. We have been regular, loyal customers ever since. It is where we often take guests for dinner, the food is among the finest on the island, and from the balcony there is an amazing view looking out over the harbor. Go for dinner, or go for a drink, it is a great place!