We are beholden to Water

Waves on the beach attain their smoothest state.
I feel the pulse of their splashing as it rushes to silence.
The wave that hits the beach smooths the path of its return.
Let no one sense the magic of this turning point!
Islands are but old mountain peaks; no separation
in the deep. Mountains hold hands underwater
and feel no envy of the greatness of others.
We are one planet when viewed from ocean's floor
Are we not one in the realms that we can't see?
  
They say that waves, wishing to awake, sought the voice of wind
All things return, return; are held in their own embrace.
In the abiding law of water and creation.
So, the wave that hits the shore smooths the path of its return.
And the echo is whetted by colliding with solitude.
Let us snap awake with the cracking of a branch
For we are beholden to water, as are the trees.
We know how to see, and so do the birds.
We wash in the river, as fishes bathe in consciousness of water.
We love our little ones, as do the cats 
and our love is no higher than theirs.
It's a lie that mountains covets mountains! Our lie.
Sky and earth belong to no-one.
We are here. With goodness we should live. 
With goodness and a leveling of all roads. 


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

Translated by Caroline Stockford