Another City Was Besieged Poem by Ulas Basar Gezgin

Another city was besieged from all her surrounds,
From her streets, her bridges, her squares, her castles.
Dead babies in deep freeze, celebrities on the news,
Entertainment on TV channels, bullet holes on the walls.

Another city was besieged from her weakest part, strongest part,
From her fingers, her elbows, from her hands that were handcuffed on the back.
Explosions and bullet noise on the streets under curfew,
Casualties, collateral damages in official statistical records.

Another city was besieged on a night or on day light, or in the morning, in the evening
Those parks at which they could not play were imprinted on the minds of the kids,
And why they couldn't play and why they couldn't see their playmates again
Where did they go? They had gone even without a farewell, all at once.

Another city was besieged, and it looks like others will be too and even more of them.
Those people we know, we don't know would crowd the cemetery, more tombs will be needed.
We would live with the dead, remembering the dead each and every time.
We would realize once more that deaths give birth to new deaths, we would even get accustomed to that...

Let another city not besieged, one of them was already besieged, let it not happen again...
Let another city not besieged, we have already seen the burden of death tolls...
Let another city not besieged, instead of that those who besiege should be besieged.
Nothing could bring back those souls we lost...


September 13,2015