Sea Nostalgia
Vessels sail along my dreams,
Over the roofs, ships in a feast of color,
And poor me,
Yearning for the sea year in year out,
I gaze and weep.
I recall my first sight of the world
Through a mussel shell I pried open:
The greenest water and the bluest sky
And the rippliest of lump-fish…
My blood still flows salty
Where the oysters slit my skin.
What a madspeed plunge was ours
Into the high seas on the whitest foam!
Foam bears no malice,
Like lips
Whose adultery with men Is no disgrace.
Vessels sail along our dreams
Over the roofs, ships in a feast of color,
And poor me,
Yearning for the sea year in year out.
– Orhan Veli Kanik –