BAROK Poem by Gülten Akin

Within every refugee there grows a rose tree -
resilient, despite the heat and thirst.

Imagine entire nations, borderless;
this expansive resilience to prejudice

It is not the longing -
no, nor the sorrow.
There was no resistance to either longing or sorrow
when suddenly, without reason, they were cast aside.
Lawless, stateless yet innocent still.

Now the body of baroque dreams and birds
can be placed, [finally] with equal grace.
Vivaldi on one side,
Borges on the other.
Enduring despite the madness of the crowd
And the insidiousness loneliness -

Within every refugee there grows a rose tree

Translation by Alice Melike Ülgezer and Özlem Özmetin