TRUST ONLY YOUR WINGS

if one day our love flies away from us, my love,
like smoke with a rucksack at its back
if our love goes away, my love,
somewhere we haven't dreamt of
like the dust fallen off from the wing of a butterfly
        hit by an angel
or like a broken branch floating in a waterfall
trust only your wings

life is a door handle which we hold tightly
      at the edge of a void we created ourselves
and love, a violin that fell into our deepest well
when the roads we walk on get narrower
and the stairs we step on collapse
my love
trust only your wings


lovers know that
spring is a shower of birds
the taboos created by those who are unable to love
disappear in the childish shades of summer
and love goes to pieces in our mouths
      as autumn dissolves like a piece of yellow candy
and if there is talk of an unending winter, my love,
beloved,
trust only your wings


when I hold out my hand to show you the ships
there's a captain at the helm fainted by the odour of blood
in the horizon a country floating towards the heart of fire
and a swarm of locusts coming out of the suitcases
as the feathers of doves
     hit by fighters in the air scatter away
my love
comb your hair on the ever-changing maps
and trust only your wings


if they take me away one day with my hands tied
to places unknown by my poems and every other soul
stand on the rusty shoulder of the world
      like a migratory bird flown out from my forehead
and when you take off heading for my absence
fear not, my love
fear not
trust only your wings

          (Translated by Cevat Çapan)