I.
i was a concave hedgehog
a hedgehog fetus
i used to file my thorns every night
before getting to you
in the evening we used to go to Star Cove
we used to harvest unease while the moon was growing
i was touching your ginger hair, and my hands used to tremble
you used to draw a sigh
i would hear
and my heart used to break
you used to weave an emptiness with your eyelashes between us
i used to know that you had a darkness
my head used to get dizzy when i was leaning
i used to get startled
was it a lake or a bay surrounded by reeds
over there a wreck of the boat used to smile at us
we used to shield our fears for our eyes
the wind used to blow
the voices of orphan children in the banging cones
you used to lean towards me like a very thin offshoot
you were such a small thing
i used to hold my breath when i was giving you a kiss
II.
When we were riding Kadıköy boat, the sea would have overflown from the Bosphorus
we used to throw poems to the seagulls, and we would keep quiet
i used to hold you with one of my hands, and with the other i used to push the emptiness between us
i was so hesitant
i used to fear that you’d be taken unawares and then you would be carried away by emptiness
we used to sit in narrow bars under somebody’s gaze
our glasses would be filled by parting as it were
from your eyes of sorrow fountain
we used fantasize
i used to collect words containing thyme in my palms
i used to crumble them over the emptiness between us
III.
when we were building a swing in augusts
while swinging from one love to another
what we found were februaries in front of us
IV.
there only remains a lock of hair in my hand
every one of its strands is nurturing an emptiness inside me
English Translation by Mesut Şenol