Stain - Gülten Akin

Here we stand at the messiest point of our time

someone should write us, if we don’t
who will

the more silence kept, the duller became
the fine knife we used
to carve out raw day

where are they, the flashing miracle
and the shining magic in every motion

one more day unseen
one more day passed withering the grass

so we learn it was blind, as if there were
no alley no passerby
no one to record the passerby

they said
lock them up, leave the key in its old place

but the truth is
it’s a shameful thing, as Camus says
to be happy on your own

voices and other voices, where are the world’s voices

the stain invaded the tissue
saying nothing saying nothing

---

Gülten Akin (1933 - 2015) Turkey
Translated by Cemal Demircioglu
Source: CALQUE