Ilhan’s reponse to John Casquarelli

I place my notebook before me, 
and life expands exponentially!
But I long for the forests: geometry of green
Want the other side of light and dark; 
other side of the cool of morning.
Sometimes I think of the stream, 
bathing in waters  I thought were all mine, 
in childlike excitement, 

Opening my arms in those wingless days 
pretending to be a bird! Immeasurable heat 
of the sun mixed with plenteous thunder of rain.
I stop and listen to the dripping tap, listen 
to seedlings  as they pierce earth. Yes, I listen 
to the tedious onrush of time with tears 
for my memories! All that's denied to me 
calls to earth and in the name of longing.
 
Laughing and crying I stretch a hand, for ever, 
to all colours, fragile as a stemless rose.
Yes, hunger is a beast of all seasons
But love is everywhere!


Ilhan Sami Çomak

Translated by Caroline Stockford
February 2021

Written in response to John Casquarelli's poem 
'When My Journey Becomes a Pirouette'