Towards the day

 
  
 I remain like a glass sphere in all this chaos.
 Not the slightest movement.
 I sewed a robe from the sky
 dark as diamond, bright as coal
 and opened the door to my self.
 In the corporeal castle's dungeon
 is a tunnel to the light.
 The well inside me: a tower.
 To scale it, my struggle.
 Why do I memorize so many stories?
 Telling is the contract of knowing.
 Where does it lead - the path inside you?
  
 Time is everywhere!
 I try to understand how activity of bodies, 
 and disembodiment can fold themselves 
 into existence with a weary will.
 I used to be there in the skies! Setting out
 on my paths to learn eternity by rote
 and I was so well, then. Close to flight,
 the Tree of Life lent me a branch
 before evil learned me inch by inch, by heart.
 I wanted to believe in reason. 
 But it became an axe, evil personified as
 human, it memorized my every part.
 I remain like a glass sphere, yes, a little
 motionless. But there is always light! 
 A tunnel, and new paths
 waiting to be trodden.  I hear 
 that pleasant voice, of reality, 
 as visions crack open the doors, 
 lifting me up from ash, from the well, 
 towards the day.
  
 I suit well the skies! 


Stanza 1: Caroline Stockford, Bristol, May 2020
Stanza 2: İlhan Sami Çomak, Silivri Prison, Istanbul, July 2020

Translated from Turkish by Caroline Stockford