Twenty-three plus twenty-three

A two-day, one-night trip. So much can fit into those bumpy rides with hard seats. A sweet journey intertwined with Oğuz, Ali, and Halil's Fatma. You know how it is—it's not what you experience, but who you experience it with. I'm so glad I experienced it with you. In two days, my heart overflowed and spilled out as poetry.

A yellow, arched wall
A memory of a long journey
The repetition of those who come and go
Humanity is a mirror of traces

Long roads may be tiring
I saw places where history lived
An eight-meter-long border
I buried the pain of separation in my heart

Shadowy breaths in narrow streets
I felt the rhythm of music in my feet
Urfa's eternity, its infinity
I found it while swimming in the scales of a fish

As Abrahams were thrown into the fire
I saw our hearts extinguished
As ships sailed toward Gaza
I buried myself with my own hands

When Mardin looks at Urfa
Hope is my bread too
When time flows backwards
Here is my new wish for Istanbul

Under amber lights
Evening delight in Midyat
Facing Mesopotamia
Tomorrow's echoes drift

My feet wander in the water
In the flow of white water
The melodies of the kemenche
In the gaze of my footsteps

What remains for us from Dara
Chills us all
Who has come, who has gone
Will those who come find our traces?

A world in two days, can it fit?
Long roads in between, will you hear me?
It's true, there is a path from heart to heart
Clearly, there is much to experience

Midyat - 5.10.2025

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Twenty-Three Plus Twenty-Three

Sometimes a journey reminds us more of the silences walked side by side than the places visited.
This poem is like a brief summary of a lifetime squeezed into two days...
Laughter echoing through the stone streets of Midyat, a moment of silence in the heat of Urfa, and perhaps the trace of a smile in every line.
“Twenty-Three Plus Twenty-Three” is not a poem about a lived moment, but about a felt togetherness.