Bosphorus Poem by Leman J Koc

My words touched everything
or I wrote of everything that touched me
except of you Istanbul, I never did
you, you the master of rhymes

as Bosphorus's liquid seeped from the pencil of poets
I feared to be called a poet
maybe fearing
to drown you in my own lines
dripping into the blue waters of my ink

I wrote to darkness the sea
love, loves lost
but didn't about to you
incapable of holding my pen burning
because you the very essence of love
you were it self

my silence
isn't due to forgetting you
don't you believe me ask, the sea gulls
flying over the boat to Bostanci
my voice mute in their screams

since... i don't even cry at partings,
embarrassed
homeless kids living under the bridge may hear me-
since to my tears i have appended theirs
waving to you this last time, through your clouds.

don't be cross with me, Istanbul
the thing i wrote for you maybe is still hanging
under that tree that tree on the island.
wait patiently
you'll see when your leaves are flying around my hair
one autumn, i'll come to you
your sea gulls be my witness
I promise you Istanbul-
one day I'll tell you to that your face, -how I missed you...

Leman J. Koc / 2007, USA