The story of Olive tree in rhymes
Author: Georgios Platanakis son of Konstantinos. Retired Merchant Marine Radio Operator. Farmer of Organic Koroneiki variety olive trees
The story of Olive tree in rhymes
Author: Georgios Platanakis son of Konstantinos. Retired Merchant Marine Radio Operator. Farmer of Organic Koroneiki variety olive trees
My history is extensive, goes many years back,
and as gods wished, of years, I will not ever lack.
Noah let a dove fly off the ark,
bearing a twig of olive, it hopefully came back.
They found in Santorini, some fossilized leaves,
they did belong to me, as then they proved with ease.
My age, they calculated, goes fifty thousand years behind,
since then, until this day, I have survived and thrived.
My natural ground proven, Mediterranean Sea,
and in the middle of it all, to say precisely.
(Photo: 60,000 year old olive fossil. Museum of Prehistoric Thira, Fira)
And in the middle, there is Crete, that’s where my cradle is,
where they’ve been cultivating me for many centuries.
Knossos, Phaistos, Mochlos, Kommos, Kato Zakros and Psira,
I found my place and it was first, in the Minoan era.
They were the first who grafted me and got me cultivated,
my oil and my olive fruits, were very much appreciated.
They were you see, the first to grasp my benefits, a swarm,
and then went and depicted them, on my ideogram.
Jars with my oil, they filled and sold,
they were the first to ship - transport.
Minoans though gone, they left a legacy,
a civilization, which I’ll continue zestfully.
In Ano Vouves you will see,
the monumental ancient tree.
Don’t be saddened by her hollows and think she’s lost her powers,
for she will blossom yet again and fill with sprouts and flowers.
Like her, all over Crete and Athens,
you will find ancient olive trees, also in other countries.
I am the cradle of culture, given to you as ancestry,
for Mediterranean people, to use and write history.
(Ancient Olive Tree in Ano Vouves, Photo by: Eric Nagle, CC BY-SA 4.0)
The olive roads are open, uniting, everywhere, not only Mediterranean, but also from elsewhere.
Various meetings being held, actions and exhibitions, social initiatives, as well, commercial, research missions.
Knowledge and cultural events, opinions to exchange, having the theme of olive trees, they frequently arrange.
In places farmers don’t sow and plow,
because they work in vain, nothing will ever grow,
Blessed am I to grow there, without doubt,
even among the stalks, I take my root and sprout.
Man sows me in the poorest ground,
to save it from erosion, keep some mound.
My root system spreads like a net to find its way,
holding the soil together, rain won’t wash it away.
By this, streams are avoided and so the water flows,
like in a sponge, so slowly, into the earth it goes.
And then the aquifer is slowly filling up,
people use it to irrigate when drought weather is back.
I offer my protection to biodiversity,
which is very important, I say this with certainty.
Because microorganisms, animals big and small,
birds, thousands of insects, plants and many more,
to me, find food and refuge, then go ahead and mate,
and cause the ecosystem to then regenerate.
Men loved me and still love me, I give a lot but still,
a little bit of soil, ‘s enough for me to live.
My wood, my leaves, my olive fruit, productive to perfection,
all is preferrable by men, they’re making no exception.
Men use my wood to calve and build, from furniture to vessels,
And when they’re cold they burn it down, into their fireplaces.
On olive wood, men draw the Saints,
create iconostasis,
my trunk gave Bat of Hercules,
victorious in ecbasis.
Title: Hercules and Lernaean Hydra, 1470. (Antonio Benci detto il Pollaiolo-Pollaiuolo, Italian goldsmith, sculptor and painter)
The continuation of the story: Olive Tree like a fairy tale | Part 3
The beginning of the story: Olive tree like a fairy tale | Μέρος 1ο
Meet the author and olive oil producer mr Georgios Platanakis
