JOURNEY
TO THE DELPHIC CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE

-text and photos: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
design: Florin-Alexandru Stancu-

It is refreshing to see the Sun
in the morning when you intend to go to Delphi (or Delfi),
the centre of the Universe
(or the navel of Mother Gaia),
decided by the encounter of two eagles
sent by Zeus to surround the Earth
in two opposite directions,
and also the house of Apollo’s oracle,
and the seat of the Pythian (or Delphic) Games
(founded in the 6th century BC).

Apollo was the god of light
and the son of Zeus and Leto.
There are Greek myths which say that
Leto was a Hyperborean woman,
who came to Greece from the land of beyond the Boreus wind,
initially localized by Homer, Pindar and others
as Dacia (current Romania).
That’s why Apollo used to spend the wintertime
in Hyperborea…

Following this variant,
I considered myself a late Hyperborean traveller
trying a pilgrimage to Apollo’s city in Greece.
On the road
I could both
admire Greek mountains
and compose a hymn to the god of light.

Dear Apollo!
So many people dedicated hymns
to your bravery
in defeating Python,
to your inspiration
in creating Pythia the Oracle,
to your generosity
in protecting the Sun,
light, dance, music, poetry and arts.

However,
I will not praise you,
but the people who honored you
building a wonderful sanctuary and a spectacular city,
organizing magnificent competitions of sports and arts
as Pythian-Delphic Games,
and conserving your memory
after you and the other Olympian gods
were exiled from Earth by religious and political interests.
(The real light cannot be hidden,
isn’t it?)

“Too many words
affect the deeds,”
says to me Pythia,
“you dream to touch the stars,
but you hardly climb
to the Delphi stadium.
What would you do
if in the future
the Pythian Games will be organized
on other planets?”

Dear Apollo!
After all
I think you should be proud that
the earthlings named after you
the first series of human flights
that touched another heavenly body, the Moon,
maybe the first “giant leap”
in colonizing the Universe
with… human light!

Dear Apollo!
Would you admit now
my astropoem
in a Pythian-Delfic game?

JOURNEY TO THE DELPHIC CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE

JOURNEY
TO THE DELPHIC CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE