1947 Londra

TURKISH-GREEK POEM

You become aware when you feel homesick
That you are brothers with the greek
just look at a child of istanbul
listening to a greek ode

we've sworn at each other in the free manner of our language
we've drawn knife on blood
yet a love lies hidden in us
for days of peace like these

what if in our veins
it were the same blood that flows
from the same air in our hearts
a crazy wind blows

generous like this rain
warm like this sun
the armfuls of goodness of spring
that surge from within

from this water from this taste have we sinned
our hostility a drink
distilled from the fruit of the climate
as harmful and as tasteful as any drink

a blue magic between us
a warm sea
two peoples on its shores
equals in beauty

the golden age of the aegean
through us will revive
as with the fire of the future
the hearth of the past comes alive

first a merry laughter comes to your ear
then some turkish with a greek accent
he is nostalgic about the bosporus
you remember the raki*

'tis when you are homesick
that you recall you are brothers with the greek

London, 1947

*Turkish national drink similar to the Greek oozo.

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