BIRD'S EYE VIEW

What does the heart of the bird that can't fly say:
a rage, a tipsiness in space,
a mountain's voice, a line of death?

Who can endure the wing's anguish,
above the city that smells of the wind,
when the clock has stopped and all doors are shut?

All these are a memory, that's all,
dizziness, feathers with blood trickling;
dregs left to the bird from a far away song.

Ozdemir Ince  (Ankara, November 18, 1980)
Translated by Talat Sait Halman (Talisman, 1991(Spring 6))