Best Indispensable Poems
(Shakespearean)
Against the sky, the weathered land now sinks
as water pours its force upon the earth
'til mossy glades become the tattered links
between the ocean's rim and mountain's girth.
A drought creates the stagnant puddle-scum
unfit to slake the thirst of man or ape
while life on earth will shrink and soon become
too weak to fight disease or seek escape.
Yet streams still flow with water fresh and clean
to nourish all of life within their range,
as pastures blossom, lush in verdant green,
from rain which curries earth in soft exchange.
As life cannot continue without breath,
a rainless land may gather only death.
Ben Sana Mecburum: “You are indispensable”
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch
You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you’re like nails riveting my brain?
I see your eyes as ever-expanding dimensions.
You are indispensable; how can you not know
that I burn within, at the thought of you?
Trees prepare themselves for autumn;
can this city be our lost Istanbul?
Now clouds disintegrate in the darkness
as the street lights flicker
and the streets reek with rain.
You are indispensable, and yet you are absent ...
Love sometimes seems akin to terror:
a man tires suddenly at nightfall,
of living enslaved to the razor at his neck.
Sometimes he wrings his hands,
expunging other lives from his existence.
Sometimes whichever door he knocks
echoes back only heartache.
A screechy phonograph is playing in Fatih ...
a song about some Friday long ago.
I stop to listen from a vacant corner,
longing to bring you an untouched sky,
but time disintegrates in my hands.
Whatever I do, wherever I go,
you are indispensable, and yet you are absent ...
Are you the blue child of June?
Ah, no one knows you—no one knows!
Your deserted eyes are like distant freighters ...
perhaps you are boarding in Yesilköy?
Are you drenched there, shivering with the rain
that leaves you blind, beset, broken,
with wind-disheveled hair?
Whenever I think of life
seated at the wolves’ table,
shameless, yet without soiling our hands ...
Yes, whenever I think of life,
I begin with your name, defying the silence,
and your secret tides surge within me
making this voyage inevitable.
You are indispensable; how can you not know?
Attila Ilhan (1925-2005) was a Turkish poet, translator, novelist, screenwriter, editor, journalist, essayist and reviewer. Keywords/Tags: Turkey, Turkish, Translation, City, International, Leaving, Depression, Absent, Absence, Parting, Separation, Distance, Loss, Break Up, Soulmate, Soulmates, Love, Lovers, Companionship, Passion, Desire, Longing
Almighty created exemplary beings in His Own wisdom
Ultimately God abide by every promise in His own script
Umbrella to all books existing here in this orbit
Which underneath subsist all creatures
Except what in His orders missed undefined
Creatures as we exist, we indeed need object not
Unconditional, to advices He exhibits vividly in the old book
Urged we are, to educate fraternity intensively
Theology ought to underscore
Primary activities geared essentially
Towards inspiration for orientation
To understand the Almighty
Currently endangered yet indispensable
The oldest profession undisputed
People applaud this endeavor
Yields inner satisfaction
Our Lord ultimately will ask
Did earnings bring inspiration to our choices?
Urged to acknowledge theology
Water holds power:
to amaze.
to cleanse.
to kill and destroy.
to grant peace.
Sit near the ocean, feel the peace;
marvel at the waves crashing against the shore.
Help clean up after a flood, experience the devastation.
In the your own bathtub, soak up renewal.
Water holds beauty:
Visit Niagara Falls, fill your senses with wonder;
contemplate the volume thundering over the edge.
Water holds mystery:
View the ocean's vastness, sink into its depths;
enjoy the magic underneath its blank surface.
Water holds life:
Where there is no water there is only death.
Genesis 1: 9-10
(This is a poem in response to Saxon White Kessinger's "The Indispensable Man")
The "Indispensable Man"
Kessinger’s metaphorical analogy
The hubris of man’s self-importance
Based on a flawed ideology
His heart is filled with pride
Arrogantly strolling in the room
His inflated sense of self esteem
Ultimately leads to his doom and gloom
His perception of something special
One of a kind - holding a golden key
“If everyone would listen – watch”
“They could be special just like me”
He dips his hand in a bucket of water
He pulls his hand out - troubled by what he sees
Nothing changed
Sometimes it’s hard to accept reality
The moral of the story
You can selfishly dip and swirl your hand around
But when it’s done in the name of attention - affirmation
You find nothing left profound
The Truth
Be the best – become all that you can be
Stay humble
Embodying the example sets you free
A hand can cause a ripple
But the water quickly fills when the hand recedes
But if you’ve done something special
Be proud -you’ve planted golden seeds
So take a plunge in the bucket
Let the body follow the hand
Make waves not ripples
You may become an indispensable man
INDISPENSABLE LOVE
I Just want to use my precious time,
To write some endless rhymes,
For the woman of my life
That will soon be my wife
Her love is beyond description,
Even to my own observation
I think she is the best satisfaction,
That deserve my attention
For her love intoxicate like wine,
With her I'll be fine
No doubt, she is mine,
For her love don't have a finish line
She fill my heart with happiness,
Her love still remain in excess
I'll never put her in darkness
Neither will I fill her heart with sadness
I'll never put her to shame,
Neither will I cheat or play game
Her love still remain the same,
That's the reason I still cherish her name
Her love is real and she is not fake,
For her love, I can jump into the lake
Even if she decide to betray,
My love for her will never decay
JULY, 2017
Poor people only
Have God and the government
Help to rely on.
No one questions as much
Freedom concept as such.
Nor its value or cost -
Til it is crudely lost.
Once it’s stolen, we pause,
Scrutinizing the cause.
Priceless is freedom’s net,
Let us never forget!
Its elite taste, so sweet,
Relish as a rare treat.
March 18, 2022
Harmony indispensable,
like the woven breath of a cloudless day
when sky touches land and then floats away
Two tailored voices are woven thus
holding out hands on opposing tunes
breathing life into this air that moves
and plays hide and seek on two separate planes
It's velvet enough to eat
with just one guitar
and refrain, repeat
while the crowd is beginning to think you're in love
just to watch your notes entangle
It's harmony that still catches my breath
and makes me alive, and scares me to death
with another soul lifting the cover of sky
and beckoning me to crawl under.