scattered like

this spring's pollen

the years

the memories

making up our past

making up us

31.05.2017

green grass

under your feet

last summer

green grass

on this summer

on your grave

my father

31.05.2017

like a sudden breeze

coming going

a human life

31.05.2017

 THE SPEECH OF MARIANUS AT THERMOPYLAE, AFTER DEXIPPUS

At Thermopylae, in the shadow

Of those who found death facing the might of Xerxes,

Seven centuries have passed and the

Goths are approaching. A speech

Raising spectres for living men's strength,

Preparations for a battle

Whose course eludes as;

Their fate unknown, fame unfound,

These defenders of Thermopylae

Even fainter spectres, barely seen.

17.07.2017

Is this a faint echo

Of the pain you felt

The pain of which

There was no escape

The pain that became

Everything

Mother Father

Is this what I feel

A faint echo

Of your deaths?

08.05.2017

If this night the

Void would open 

Before me

I would step forward

Embracing it

Like one welcomes

Long-lost loved

04.05.-06.05.2017

THOSE WHO BLAME NAZIM HIKMET

They blame Hikmet, accuse him of being a 'Stalinist'

But they never blame those

Who were silent, without raising a voice

Or moving a pen

When Hikmet was in prison those long years.

From his Turkish prison cell, they claim,

Hikmet should have raged against the Soviet purges,

The gulags and the show trials;

The Left, they demand, must

Not have any of the faults

They accept with an indifferent shrug

In the Centre and the Right.

Outside the brick and stone walls,

The iron and steel in doors and windows

They demand, they who have never

Defecated and pissed in rusty buckets,

They demand and pass judgment -

Silent on those who now count the years

From freedom.

04.05.2017