Tell Me Your Name First

Before you, it knew nothing untied it

to the honey dripping from your tongue

to the white mountain where it would one day bury gods

her wave-rippling, foaming red hair

Take it out to skies whose sulfur has faded, lock it in inns

choke it in smoke, spill its dust-stars into its boxes

 

The wordless, limitless equation knelt

before mathematics

bless its heart like rivers through the language of nature,

read its name from the tablets

you will see, with a marginal noise

it will clothe the sky upon you

 

If you were to stretch your honeyed tongue

to the narrow-waisted river, to the noise in your breath

in the love chambers of the silk-shelled walnut, two seas give birth

jealously waiting night and day for its swelling milk

first, but tell me your name first!

 

Before you, it knew nothing

even Maat, the goddess of justice, was bewildered by the scale whose pan tipped toward your heart

say it while inside your chest writhing, it realizes the broken system is an olive branch

while Judas trees empty the color of their inside into your deep well

while Langston Hughes falls gently in the background

tell me your name so it gets soaked to its very heart

 

Now for you, it has killed all the gods

wash the deep cut in your flesh with a rose, rub your soul with love

do not, never stay silent like an idol toward the distance

unbutton your shirt…

let your chest be filled with scorched wheat

 

English Translation by Mesut Şenol