#istanbul
/From the journal of a traveler, Istanbul, Summer 1922/
I board the train at dawn,
steam curls above the rails,
the air smells of coal and sea.
Minarets pierce the pink sky,
and gulls wheel above the Bosphorus.
The wheels hum, a steady pulse,
fields of poppies flash past,
olive trees nod along the banks,
and bridges lean over quiet waters.
Fishermrn cast nets from wooden boats,
the Galata Tower waits in haze,
mosques bloom with domes of blue,
their call to prayer drifts along the tracks.
The train slows, cobblestones rattle,
spices scent the open markets,
lamplight flickers on stone walls,
children laugh and dogs dart between carts.
Steam and smoke mix with the sea,
copper rooftops shine in morning gold,
sultans’ stones and merchant halls
rise between gardens and narow lanes.
Istanbul opens like a book,
a page for every window, every street,
I lean to watch, to drink it in,
to remember this, before we leave.
Jan 16
Jan 16, 2026 at 11:05 AM UTC
The city holds my heart
Where it sits so far away
at the crossroads of
the Black Sea and Marmara
on the Boğaziçi strait.
The city holds my heart
Buy a simit from the stand
riding the ferry all day
feeding the seagulls
from my hand.
The city holds my heart
The rhythm of the streets
the taxi and the delivery bikes
walking up and down the hills
matches the rhythm of my
heartbeat.
The city holds my heart
How the drivers honk by day
and by night, the meow of
the cats as they go their
merry way.
The city holds my heart
Waking up to the sound of
the squawking birds
telling me it's time to
awake and always demanding
to be heard.
The city holds my heart
My favorite place to be
with my eyes closed tight
listening to the Adhan
from the balcony.
The City holds my heart
The people hold such honor
I say to them “Elinize sağılık"
And bless the mothers
and the fathers.
The City holds my heart
The people on the street
The greatest to the least
the drunk man to the priest.
from North, South, West
and East.
The city holds my heart
The family I left behind
I love them, they're so kind
I pray that Allah always
Protects them until I can
return And once more make
the city mine.
Sep 22, 2024
Sep 22, 2024 at 12:42 AM UTC
Ben Sana Mecburum (“You Are Indispensable”)
by Attila Ilhan
translation/interpretation by Nurgül Yayman and Michael R. Burch
You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you’re like nails riveting my brain?
I see your eyes as ever-expanding dimensions.
You are indispensable; how can you not know
that I burn within, at the thought of you?
Trees prepare themselves for autumn;
can this city be our lost Istanbul?
Now clouds disintegrate in the darkness
as the street lights flicker
and the streets reek with rain.
You are indispensable, and yet you are absent ...
Love sometimes seems akin to terror:
a man tires suddenly at nightfall,
of living enslaved to the razor at his neck.
Sometimes he wrings his hands,
expunging other lives from his existence.
Sometimes whichever door he knocks
echoes back only heartache.
A screechy phonograph is playing in Fatih ...
a song about some Friday long ago.
I stop to listen from a vacant corner,
longing to bring you an untouched sky,
but time disintegrates in my hands.
Whatever I do, wherever I go,
you are indispensable, and yet you are absent ...
Are you the blue child of June?
Ah, no one knows you—no one knows!
Your deserted eyes are like distant freighters ...
perhaps you are boarding in Yesilköy?
Are you drenched there, shivering with the rain
that leaves you blind, beset, broken,
with wind-disheveled hair?
Whenever I think of life
seated at the wolves’ table,
shameless, yet without soiling our hands ...
Yes, whenever I think of life,
I begin with your name, defying the silence,
and your secret tides surge within me
making this voyage inevitable.
You are indispensable; how can you not know?
*********
Original text:
Ben sana mecburum bilemezsin
Adini mih gibi aklimda tutuyorum
Büyüdükçe büyüyor gözlerin
Ben sana mecburum bilemezsin
Içimi seninle isitiyorum.
Agaçlar sonbahara hazirlaniyor
Bu sehir o eski Istanbul mudur
Karanlikta bulutlar parçalaniyor
Sokak lambalari birden yaniyor
Kaldirimlarda yagmur kokusu
Ben sana mecburum sen yoksun.
Sevmek kimi zaman rezilce korkuludur
Insan bir aksam üstü ansizin yorulur
Tutsak ustura agzinda yasamaktan
Kimi zaman ellerini kirar tutkusu
Bir kaç hayat çikarir yasamasindan
Hangi kapiyi çalsa kimi zaman
Arkasinda yalnizligin hinzir ugultusu
Fatih'te yoksul bir gramofon çaliyor
Eski zamanlardan bir cuma çaliyor
Durup köse basinda deliksiz dinlesem
Sana kullanilmamis bir gök getirsem
Haftalar ellerimde ufalaniyor
Ne yapsam ne tutsam nereye gitsem
Ben sana mecburum sen yoksun.
Belki haziran da mavi benekli çocuksun
Ah seni bilmiyor kimseler bilmiyor
Bir silep siziyor issiz gözlerinden
Belki Yesilköy'de uçaga biniyorsun
Bütün islanmissin tüylerin ürperiyor
Belki körsün kirilmissin telas içindesin
Kötü rüzgar saçlarini götürüyor
Ne vakit bir yasamak düsünsem
Bu kurtlar sofrasinda belki zor
Ayipsiz fakat ellerimizi kirletmeden
Ne vakit bir yasamak düsünsem
Sus deyip adinla basliyorum
Içim sira kimildiyor gizli denizlerin
Hayir baska türlü olmayacak
Ben sana mecburum bilemezsin.
Keywords/Tags: Turkey, Turkish, Attila Ilhan, modern English translation
Feb 24, 2020
Feb 24, 2020 at 9:13 PM UTC
The comments of the ocean
Blend nicely with the brush
Of tipper topper dinky dinghies
That paddle all a hush
Ships sailing on the summer current
Keels are black and leery
With barnacles and treasures trawled at sea
They nose ahead worn and weary
I sigh a little on the plinth of my palm
Propped nicely 'gainst the ivory table
And clink ****** cups, you know
Those little things that make you remember
Shame? Not me. When I watch the birds
They hover without shame
Boasting of the clouds they've visited
And castles up high they are welcome to
Take, take, take the spring breeze that simmers in
I couldn't feel the grace of disgust
I couldn't, I'm too happy
With salt ground tea and seemly company.
Nov 1, 2016
Nov 1, 2016 at 4:58 AM UTC
If it would be up to me
I would be facing now
...
Rocks
Cool elegance
formed by the flexuous splash
Wild is the temper belonging
to the change of the impending season
the bleak-dark growing deep inside
A passion higher than the unreaching
tangent of a sharp urge unable to cut
by a smoothing of a creamy surface
Opaque by nature
hiding explosions inside
Bearing mysteries of the swallowed sounds
of seasons
Seasons of all the knowing
Covered by ...as if
the fabric of the unknowing
of the autumn waves
of the sea that grew teardrops
Washed away at once
by a fierce Splash
Shifting the mind
as the slapped face of the shores lamenting
remerge
Covered with its courageous green
A regenerating variant elongating savor
to the nose coloring the mind
by the help of a long Forgotten
rush of the algae unseen
diffusing Joy
drifting the rhythm
of a piano of a Turkish contemporary
unlikely to be heard through this maddening
storm where I am standing tall at the edge
In perfect effortless balance
Saluting the gusting and the turbulent
of all sides encircling to provide
the stillness of a home at hearts
As they used to do
O
My friends
Stay Stay this time!
As if a song
flourishing
the smile inside
As I used to do
gestureless
and they would see
But I will need to cross soon
the horizon approaching
Vertical
I only came to see you
One more time
embrace you
the last time
walk with you
through the bazaars and bridges
Our memories trapped in tidal fluctuation
Spanning generations over the Bosphorous
traces of dolphins patiently carrying
holding on to the edges
of old fishing boats
Wood hardly bearing
these ashes made of stars
Waiting to be born again
by my one look into the water
like the first one
A cry of eternity
and Today
I am heading home already
crossing this place only
where you brewed me to love
in this old drawing of truth
plainly framed
hanging
on this play
for a farewell
Ashes to alight to the sky
sculpting the light of poetic alignment
of you and I
in the eyes of the loving
A deliverance of Enjoyment of the being
Shall be my duty says a passerby carrying
The matchmaker's match for all
Until the final journey
where I shall eternally Stay
Stay this time
but
I am heading home now
I only came here to set you free
Oct 25, 2016
Oct 25, 2016 at 9:21 AM UTC
I think of Istanbul
Diary recalls beautiful memories
May peace prevail
I feel for Istanbul
breathe in a cup of cay
May happiness spread
Istanbul Magic
how many times it warmed me
My hope is with you
Jul 17, 2016
Jul 17, 2016 at 8:11 AM UTC
I think I'll take a trip to I don't know
So I can sit back and whistle low
Thinking about all the loves I've come to know
Thinking about how they go
I'll sit warm with morning sun
Kidding around can be so much fun
Golden rays upon my plate
Eat up my waffles , it's getting late
I wondered where the pale moon went
He's out moonlighting is what I think
All last night he was certainly a no show
But who am I to even know
Somewhere there's a distant dream
Hiding behind the unsewn seams
There's a tear in the universe
I guess it could be so much worse
The clouds are playing tag in the sky
Fumbling around , putting on a show
Watch out as one falls down
The tears are falling , I might drown
I think I'll take a trip to I don't know
Jun 9, 2015
Jun 9, 2015 at 7:30 AM UTC
I didn't get mail today,
The postman didn't call,
No letter box rattling,
No letters in the hall,
No dinner reservations,
No flights to Istanbul,
No romantic entanglement,
Valentine's day’s so cruel.
Feb 14, 2015
Feb 14, 2015 at 5:11 PM UTC