Snow in Istanbul

Fly, carpet. Fly, I said
to the flying carpet
with the tree of life and the pair of birds
in yellow, blue, green, and red.

In a flash I rose straight up
over Copenhagen. Off it went
across Europe
until turbulence and
yellow, blue, green, and red were covered in snow.

Off it went straight down-down-down
into a snowstorm and power failure in Istanbul
where I was to meet my love.

I searched for him
in the Blue Mosque
as it snowed in Istanbul.

I searched for him in dark bazaars
as it snowed and no Turk
could see a hand in front of his face in Istanbul.

I searched for my love in the Aya Sofya
as Istanbul was snowed white.

In the Türk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul
I saw an utter stranger: that was he.

Fly, carpet. Fly, I said
to my flying carpet
with the tree of life
in yellow, blue, green, and red.

Translated by Susanna Nied

© Susanne Jorn

Susanne Jorn, born in 1944, has MAs in sinology and in English/American literature and is a PhD Candidate in comparative literature. In 1970 her first poetry collection, The Splinters, was published in Copenhagen while she was in Japan on a two-year Mombusho Fellowship (1969-71). These two years marked the beginning of Japanese influence on her work. Jorn has published numerous poetry collections. Her Kokoro, from which the selections here are taken, appeared in 2005. Her most recent work, Eventyrernes bog/The Book of Fairy Tales (2008), is her twenty-ninth volume.