Just A Poem Catching For An Aging Ceremony

I've never seen you walking on a long road, ever
I've seen you under rains, I've seen you holding glass
Looking at a shore, with your weeping face
And I've seen you with the clothes
Worthy of Monet's women
If it befits
Yet, I've never seen you walking on a long road, ever.

Your footsteps were so short, let's say on a summer day
In front of a hotel gate, over a wooden bridge
Between a boquet of flowers and a rusted cat.
Your footsteps were so short
That they could only be measured and matched
Only with you washing a glass
I've never seen you walking on a long road, ever.

You don't respond to "where to?"
Just like the ice quivers, pendant and dazed
You welcomed people hastily, who come from anywhere
That these anywheres, let's say they're far far away
Just like you've been to those places
Alongside the smiles you've gathered
From busses, roads and seashores.
I've never seen you walking on a long road, ever.

As if one travels around the world just by looking at you
Even if we go down to Hisar from Etiler
You're filled with youth, dolled up, made your hair
Anew, just a many-year-old-kid as you've always been
I've never seen you walking on a long road, ever

In March, eggplant; in Agust, cauliflower
It is your abiding cuisine
You've had a name; Tomris Uyar
Name yourself this year, yet leave it as Tomris Uyar again.
Such cold I felt last winter, you wouldn't even know
Wheras, the sun hadn't set in your home at all
So, tell me;
Have I seen you walking on a long road ever?


Edip Cansever.