Large apartment blocks
                proliferate,
                with western gardens
                of water hungry
                green lawns,
                eclipsing the old
                decaying, one story houses,
                of the older generations.

                Still,
                in springtime,
                the  perfumes of jasmin
                lemon blossom , bitter orange
                and lilac  in full bloom
                grip  the senses,
                as one walks by
                a profusion of flowers
                in the disordered,
                mediteranean
                terraced gardens,
                where
                the elderly caretakers,
                defy the inexhorable
                onslaught of progress .

                Here and there,
                deserted
                old villas,
                with gardens grown wild,
                already display
                the signs of new flats
                soon going up.