I am on a ship having lost her shipmaster
All alone, in the middle of an ocean
Loneliness is the water I take every morning
And sorrow I eat every evening
I am a crawling child
There are many things I don’t know in my life
I swim in the forest of secrets
My hands are not hands without your hands
And my body seems to be an ant
I am the real son of grief, the brother of loneliness
All sorts of grief to be gauged according to me
I know very well the crying mothers
The buried sons come under my responsibility
I wrote the history of hanged people
I read the instances of crucifixion
I experienced the gas chambers, atom bombs
All children of Hiroshima are my kids
The ones burnt in Soribor are my siblings
I am on a ship having lost her ship master
All alone, in the middle of an ocean
(From, “A Rush Hitting the Earth”)
English Translation by Mesut Şenol