On the ferry

Small young couple.
Eyes of an expatriate origin.
They must be working somewhere in survival
- submission is famous
for its capability.

On summer holidays.
Their hands are free now to attend to
their neglected caresses.

I admire how skilfully they lay their fingers
on their play's bed
tightly tied
as if they are weaving cheery little baskets
filling them up with desire's wriggle
undoing them and weaving them again from scrap

the young man must be tired now
perhaps from the action's excessive freedom
and as the ferry wiggles cheerfully
he leans and falls asleep
on his left earring

awake as she still is
she stares for a second at his sleeping hand
and slowly, carefully not to awaken it
places it on her shoulder
and on it she leans
sweetly falling asleep herself.

Love is such a useful cushion
suitable
for all of pain's travels in the body
for every age's dreams
for all kinds of sleepiness
essential
for the house
for the musing
for the bus
for the ferry and everything else
that drowns us.

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Personal notes: 

This poem was published as part of the collection 'We moved next door' (2007). 

The subject of the poem is a young couple of foreign (non-Greek) origin that the poet encountered on a ferry; perhaps one of the numerous ferries that travel between Greek islands. Dimoula observes the couple and carefully weaves an intimate portrait of her two protagonists, making suggestions (or revelations) about their lives and relationship. 

The first stanza establishes that the couple are foreign workers. The poet's choice to reference the couple's eyes and small bodies might mean that the couple is of Asian origin (although this may sound racist, this is not the intention). The poet suggests that her protagonists were probably forced to seek work abroad so that they can survive, perhaps because they experienced bad conditions at their home country. The stanza's last two lines suggest a broader sociopolitical comment - that labour is submission and vice versa. 

The second stanza establishes that her protagonists are on holidays, and that perhaps they don't usually get to spend time with each other. It is unclear whether the couple's neglect for each other was forced by their life conditions or by their own behaviours. 

The next stanzas describe an intimate moment that ends in both protagonists falling asleep. It is interesting that the man 'tires' of the couple's intimacy first, while the woman tries to extend it beyond the man's intentions. This is a typical 'behaviour' in many of Dimoula's poems. 

In the last stanza, Dimoula provides commentary about love, inspired by her encounter with the young couple. Her commentary is written in the language and tone that is often found in medicine descriptions. She makes a parallel between love and essential medical kits for travelling (essentially a parallel between painkillers and love). Her tone develops an unusual combination of playfulness and sarcasm, yet also seriousness and matter-of-fact advice. 

The last line suggests that we fall in love to soothe the pain in our lives. This pain may have different sources in each person. For the couple that Dimoula is describing, it may originate from their hard working conditions, and ultimately their mortality. They have fallen in love to evade their life's hard conditions, and ultimately to evade death.