ISTANBUL GATE OF FELICITY

from `Suite in the Ottoman Mode'

world war years with the beauty of a frightened woman

when the good cheer kept vigil at the kuzgunjuk landing
turned like the pessimistic cadets of kuleli toward sultan reshad
and no one was there for the last autumnal ferry
no helva vendors from beykoz or phonographs with odeon horns
pouring out songs in an ancient mode only the captain's cymbals
alla turca made in yildiz and lifted from the bazaars

istanbul straits with the sulkiness of a wounded vulture

when monocled german officers argued at kramer's beerhouse
moltke versus bismarck in their fissured tongue
downing three bitter dark green doubles of pilsen beer
torpedo net heroes rich in numbers as the imperial band
return to the galician front under the cold russian rain
swept night and day by long range battery fire
red crescent tents blossoming like wet flowers
enormous flowers of extremely bloodstained white
back to the galician front the operetta remedy

in ikdam false news of victory on the syrian front

at the ministry of war the commander in chief enver pasha
with colonel suleyman of military secret intelligence
knows nothing of how time passes until morning worship
in the  unfiltered glass-shattering darkness of a cellar
before an execution the nervous motions of prayer
of cowardly shadows in bekiraga prison
the sticky sweat crawling on yakub jemil's temples
the torn union and progress membership card on the floor
the rattle of a mauser being loaded the order to shoot
the lilacs fade life lightning in the water jug there is no cure

those world war years with the beauty of a frightened woman

Attila Ilhan (1925 - )
Translated by Nermin Menemencioglu