The Poetry of Mehmet Altun

(THE) WIND! 

-I-

I, (The) Wind!
Knocking on agitatedly closed doors
Swaying on sails, whirring on branches, am coming

I, (The) Wind!
Threatening your windmills, am coming
A purpose to your light, a maturity to your fight, am coming
I am coming from the North
From the traps you were caught in
To carry honey to the essence of an unripe fruit
I am coming to become the voice of an ant in the dark, the desire of fire in the light

A tornado in a wave, a hiss in a song, frost in the winter say you
But I, I am perpetually overcoming a forbidden place

-II-

I, (The) Wind!
Know the moisture of the green, sky green farms
The legend of the Mediterranean stone, and the chill of the fire in Rome 

I, (The) Wind!
In penetrating rain, staring at a wet lover
Know the loneliness, that seeps into the tears of the eye and love
I am coming from the West
Knowing the chateaux’s that a thousand struggles seeds fed
The Renaissance of crime and punishment, the Reform of believing
The wall and the truths of the mind, is from where I’m coming
From the tragedy of a crown wet by Nero’s tears
Arenas, the savageness of lions
                                                                the women of revolution I know

Youth in Paris, history in Rome, the struggle in Istanbul say you
But I, I am perpetually coming from a love that destroys an era in fury 

-III-

I, (The) Wind!
Know all the directions of the world
Beyond the clouds, the rain, the sea I know

I, (The) Wind! I am coming from the South
From inside the consolation you find yourself
Passing between the breasts of a virgin
Through the sweat violating her
From the dark courtyard of an ancient temple I am coming

A storm in the sea, a blizzard in the snow, a thunderstorm in the dust say you
But I, I am perpetually coming from a love that flows to itself 

-IIII-

I, (The) Wind!
The cool of the balcony becomes my body
Through the sleep of the sun, not the night İ pass

I, (The) Wind!
Saw the waters steps, fishes in a thousand colours
My journey took me to the root of belief
I am coming from the East
The earth of the land you worship
From seventh heaven, the mud roof of Babel, I am coming
The flute of Tammuz I know, the hoof of the young goat grazing
The sadness of a mother with no milk
                                                                The chest of a lamb still hungry I know

Or that the first god was a shepherd
And that it stood at the volcano pit of the Upper Sea also

A curse on a mountain, a voice at the window, the boreas in spring say you
But I, I am perpetually coming from the place where a thousand faiths become one

Translation from Turkish Mehmet Aksoy

Ereternity –

                                                        Bring me two rivers born of pain

I swam in two rivers
Two fountains, flowed like two eyes
Two tongues gripped me, two embroidered kerchiefs, two fruit trees…
This is why I was born in Kurdish, why I love the universe in Turkish
My mother, for this reason
Is still a single coffee grain
A temple who’s door has never seen a lock
No pauper has been refused, no lamb hungry for milk

Now
When the season opens to spring, it says the winter is war
It says the dead of winter
You will know from the burnt forest
You will know, that the spring is the house of the mushroom and blackberry
That before the crop wilts you will be satisfied by the lands gift
And chasing after partridge…
Trout, carp and…
You will be satisfied
By the smell of wild flowers, a neighbour’s tea
If the kernel flows, the grain’s ear pulls, the hour is evzel than the coin

It says;
-You recognise the winter, autumn is the birth’s midwife for this reason
And threshing the birth house
My mother I say, is Kurdish for this reason or
Kurdish my mother…

If crying, is the sibling of laughing
Every lifetime has a season, every language a garden
My tongue that carves love like a carpenter, my lover a calligrapher
You are not the land that feeds me, but the land I make love to
I say my lover, my lover for this reason
If I still sweat in your nights, still a city-dweller of sorts
Like a house sitting, or accepting an address
My lover I say, is Turkish for this reason or
Turkish the woman I love
This is why I say, the two faces of my identity
I carry two photograph’s within me, two times the tales…

They took me to two rivers
I chose two plains, two enclosed river basins…
Two ocean smells, two waves brought me up
I held two hands
With one I grew, with the other I multiplied
İf I still live each season twice
One is for my mother the other for my lover
If I multiply one life with two
It is for love and for birth, I know
My Kurdish, is my birth; my Turkish, is my love I say

Translation from Turkish by Mehmet Aksoy

Ereternity: The original name of the poem “Evzel” is a word made by the poet  from the words Evvel (before- ere)-Ezel (eternity) which means both, “ereternity is the word made up for the translation.