hold me by İlyas Tunç

            nightmares! they wake up women

            for new loves

            hold me!

the wind is raging; it forces open the balcony door… footsteps! what’s happening outside? maybe meat eating rats or vampires to suck your blood… look! a bat is tapping on the window with its wings… watch out! a tarantula on the wall is grinning at you…

            hold me!

I know why snails withdraw into their shells and why lyre birds hide deeply in the bush… but you have no shell or hedgehog spines… my worried ladybird! loneliness is an iguana!

            hold me!

out there is the wildness of tropical jungles, the depths of seas and cliffs… think of leopards, hyenas, weasels… and of well-fed carrion flies beneath your flesh…

            hold me!

unknown dangers become real, evil souls become visible, strange things happen… look! ghosts have gathered clothes from the washing line, you can see them wandering on the balcony… watch out, there is a pillow and an invisible hand over your throat! you have no friends, lighthouse keepers don’t either… my poor little angelfish! loneliness is a killer whale!

            hold me!

            hold me!

(c)   İlyas Tunç

Translated by Robert Berold and the poet

İlyas Tunç is presently working on a translation project, where he translates poems by Nigerian  poets into Turkish, weekly, in a national newspaper.