Portico: poem by E. C. Traganas

portico, image by Kim Evans, on Pixabay, modified

Portico 

“The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it” 

— John 1:5 

I cast my eyes up towards the flame 

outreaching fingers grasp to touch it 

burning, singeing, disappearing 

like a thousand dissipating grains 

of parched and illusory sand. 

The potted ivy grows outside my door 

latticed trellis threading upwards 

watered by the fog and tears of 

winter’s laggard blooming, 

forever hopeful, climbing higher, 

searching vainly for that 

fading shaft of light 

Forever shadowed, forever buried, 

in the trapped and twisted thicket, 

glowing dimly where I cannot see it, 

knowing that in time, my plant 

will take its root, emerge, ignite 

these scorched and shriveled hands. 

Author of the debut novel ‘Twelfth House’

and ‘Shaded Pergola,’ a collection of haiku

and short poetry featuring her original illustrations, Eleni Traganas has been published in 

The San Antonio Review, The Brussels Review, 

The Penwood Review, Story Sanctum, The Society

of Classical Poets, Amethyst Review, Spirit Fire Review, and over a hundred other journals.

Eleni Traganas enjoys a professional career as

a Juilliard-trained concert pianist & composer,

has held over 40 national exhibitions of her artwork,

is the founder / director of the New York City-based literary forum Woodside Writers, and Editor-in-Chief of The Woodside Review. www.elenitraganas.com.

'Shaded Pergola: Haiku & Other Short Poems With Illustrations' https://a.co/d/dt81bEh

September 2025 issue