POEM - RESPONSIBILITY, Poetess - Efi Chantzouli (Greece)

Efi Chantzouli was Born in Athens.. She studied journalism. She is a graduate of the Postgraduate Department of International, European and Economic Studies of the Athens University of Economics and Business. She studied Acting. She taught in secondary education tutoring centers. She worked as Head of Statistical Information at the Hellenic Statistical Authority. As a journalist, she wrote interviews with actors and singers in various magazines. She maintained a column in the newspaper “METROPOLIS” with the title “That's what Efi said”.
She is professionally involved in acting. Indicative theatrical performances that she played: "The Temptation" by Xenopoulos,"About Love"  "The Secret Path’’, "The Trial of Socrates","The Swan Song" ,"The House of Bernarda Alba" by F. G. Lorca, "Faust" by Goethe, "As You Like Me" by L. Pirandello, "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Shakespeare, "The High Mountains" by Z. Papantoniou, "The Rape of Lucretia" by Shakespeare et al. She acted on television in the serials: “Hair” directed by A. Rigas, “Oath II” and “Archelaou 5”.
She has published two poetry collections: “Bittersweet notes” and “Journey of emotions”  and three children's fairy tales: “Lessons in the Forest”, “The Candy island” and “Thomoulis”. She has participated in poetry anthologies such as: "Philological New Year", "Summer wanderings", "The Red of Love", etc. She was honored with the Special Poetry and Children's Book Award from the Greek Writers' Union in 2018. In 2024, her second poetry collection "Journey of emotions" was awarded by the International Writers' Society. She was honored in 2025 with the award "Panorama International Literature & Art Awards" for her theatrical and literary work.




RESPONSIBILITY
 
You traveled through life alone.
You made mistakes in your unruly youth.
Your childhood dreams appear timidly.
Coral moments, forgotten.
You honored your ideals.
You fought as bravely as you could.
A rebel in a petty-bourgeois prison.
But the rose-fingered dawn rises elsewhere.
You abandon your desires with heartbreak.
Your wounds set up a monologue that is boring and persistent.
Fraud brags with impudence.
Ignore the burden of guilt.
With courage, welcome your responsibility.
It won you with undivided effort.
You do not give in even now,
that you are left alone with yourself.
You now feel gained and free.
 
©®Efi Chantzouli