Here is a poem I wrote back in February 2023, following the devastating earthquake in southeastern Türkiye. Originally I wrote it in Turkish, which you hear in the video, and the following is a recent translation by me.
The song that accompanies my words in the video is called “Tsintskaro”, a Georgian folk song sung by Hamlet Gonashvili. I was inspired by the same song for my latest post at Holy Mischief: Love, Creativity & Other Sacred Business titled The Art of Courting the Soul.
Not now, not ever
will I ignore the sound of the river,
nor will I cease to wonder
how easily and unmistakably
life continues to sprout new shoots,
always and everywhere,
as I sit in silence,
in awe,
in despair,
in terror,
in pain,
in rage,
that cannot be contained
by this small body.
Meanwhile life stirs again,
and again,
in eternal abundance,
already with sheer beauty.
So then, I too shall rise
from this grievance, eventually,
drawing back the heavy curtain
of thought forms,
to give myself back
to the living.
Filiz Telek
