Aspasia Georgiou was a simple villager who came from the village of Vatyli in Cyprus. She was made a refugee in her own country due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Her only dream was to return to her village and her home.
Born in Vatyli, Famagusta on 26th January 1921, Aspasia was the mother of 8 children, and the grandmother of 23 grandchildren. In 1974, after being forced to flee from Vatyli following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, she stayed in Episkopi Village, Limassol, waiting to return to Vatyli. Her hopes and dreams were never realised.
In late 1992, she had an accident, resulting in the amputation of one of her legs, shortly after this, she had a heart attack and she died on 8th January 1993, aged 72 years.
She never saw her village or her home again. In spite this, she never bore any malice, and longed for a Free and United Cyprus for all Cypriots. She was a real Cypriot.
Vatyli remains occupied by Turkish Forces today, more than 22 years after they first invaded Cyprus.
Aspasia wrote a number of poems which I am privileged to be able to share with you.
I have kept these poems in the original Greek so as to preserve their real meaning. I am gradually translating the poems into English for those who cannot understand Greek or whose browsers do not support Greek. It is very difficult to keep the passion with which they were written when translating to English, I hope that I have done the poems justice. In order that the poems can be enjoyed by all Cypriots, I would also like to have the poems translated into Turkish. If you can help with this, please email me using the following link : Barry D Fraser
I would like to thank my family for their help and support in putting these poems on the net, to Ray Berry for kindly donating the web space, and to the members of the Cyprus-L list for their encouragement and inspiration.
For help in viewing Greek fonts, check out the following link: http://www.hri.org/fonts/
Την όμορφη την Βατυλή να την φωτογραφίσω, να την θωρώ ενθύμιο όσον καιρόν ηζήσω και άμα πεθάνω και ύστερα στα 'γγονια μου ν' αφήσω.
O Vatyli, such beauty, a vision in my mind, as long as I breathe I see you as clearly as life itself. Even when I die the vision will live on in the minds of my grandchildren.
Θεέ μου καταξίωσ' μας να πάμε στα χωρκά μας, να πάμε εις τους τόπους μας στα σπίτια τα δικά μας, να ανοίξουμε τις εκκλησιές να παίξουν οι καμπάνες τζιαι τζιαμαί ν' αγκαλιαστούν παιδία με τις μανάδες, να κάμουμε τζιαι λειτουρκά μαζί με τους παπάδες, να πάμε να γονατίσουμε μπροστά στην Παναγιά να την παρακαλέσουμε να φέρει ευτυχία να διώξει τούτο το κακό που την Μεσαορία.
Dear God, take us back to our village, our land, our homes. Open up our churches and let the bells toll. Let our children cling to their mothers as the priest reads the blessing. Let us kneel before the virgin and beg her to bring happiness out of the sadness that has come to the Mesaoria.