In a bay guarded by lighthouses
which winked their reassurance,
holidaymakers aboard a gület
got ready to go to bed
on a hot August night.
Some wrapped themselves in sheets,
advanced up ladders, and circled
as they searched for space
on sundeck mattresses.
Torches were used to read by
and doubled
as light bayonets to combat evil spirits.
After midnight, half- hearted superstition
ceased, and daylight desires
soon surfaced again:
to go ashore and climb up to castles,
to reach Olympos and the Eternal Flame,
to kayak the waves at Kekova.