What Good Is Reading Poetry?

It's good for making hands fine enough to touch silk
And for feeling the moment that stone turns impatient
  
It's good for looking in the eyes of hungry cats
And extending curiosity out among all animals
  
It is the darkness that makes my night voice heard 
And makes it easier to say 'the moon will come up late'
  
For years my feet have been cold, so cold
When I say this, it helps me compare winter to snow
  
Spring will begin today, I know
Reading poetry helps me believe that feeling
  
It reminds me I don't miss the Istanbul bustle
Lets me know things to tell my love in a letter
  
When I'm tired, to stop and rest, not to drink water when I sweat,
It helps me to cry and fret over wildfires, over death
  
To know anger's reserved just for evil
To stop and ask forgiveness of women
  
To feel youth when young, to understand it later on,
It's good for helping me to sit and write new poems
  
Good for helping me seduce and flatter
Then to kiss my love when the leaves turn yellow 

Poem: Ilhan Sami Çomak, Geldim Sana

Translated by: C.Stockford

March 2021