Oktay Rifat Poems

Blacker than a grape,
waist finer than a needle,
how does the ant climb
the slopes with its burden?
...

This won't do, it won't work! One day
This disturbance will stop, you'll be born to the Sun.
You'll see again like an old picture
...

I hoisted all my flags on the flagpoles,
I painted the city with my blood's hot colour.
I spread stones on the road that led to anger.
I levelled towers with the back of my hand.
...

Birds combed Emine's hair.
The sun like a fortune-telling daisy now opened
Then closed. The pitcber went cold by the window.
A sailing ship approached above
...

A white cloud over the dome of Aya Sofia,
I watched it disappear. My honey—coloured prayer beads,
The amber days, leaves and hopes fell.
...

Homer speaks of the wildest sea,
Now strangely level, cleansed of flesh!
Perched at a universal angle, the one and only.
...

1
Our horses galloped foaming
to the calm sea.
...