Theodore Stephanides
The Last Days of Atlantis - Three Glimpses
Atlantean sailors on their ships
Gazed at the signs of sea and shore,
And cried: "Upon us sweeps a storm
Such as no man has seen before!
Let us then seek the quays - we dare
Not face such mighty waves, or stand
Against Poseidon's rage. No hope
Of life is left save on the land!"

But landsmen, as they felt the earth
Strain groaningly beneath their feet
Like some great python underground,
Fled shrieking: "Let us gain the feet
That wallows empty on the sea.
Far better face Poseidon's roar
Than linger on this fated land
And perish with a sinking shore!"

The ship-rats, panic in their eyes,
Poured up through every seam and breach
And struggled, squealing as the swam,
In living waves towards the beach.
But from that quaking coast they turned,
Not knowing where salvation lay,
And swam from shore to ship and back,
Till their drowned bodies fouled the bay.
(from "The Golden face", 1965)