GULSELI INAL
(1947)

THUS BARE SHOULDER'D

Pale and forgetful I was returning from the lands of rain
on my wings raindrops which had fought with Zephyr
nobody knows any more
that I wash my hands with lily-scented water
on my head the garland laid by the nymphs
that once on the cliffs I looked the devil in the face

who knows out of which seasons of stars
of which tablets and clay I had come
how I stirred the must by hand
distilled the wine from the purple grapes
the oldest grapes powder'd with dust
pale and forgetful I'd sprung from amongst Circe's fairies
whose hair smell of mastic
out of the golden grooves of the sky
and out of poor
modest feasts
I was walking barefooted
back from the forgetful lands of rain
from red coral-reefs and the roars of
millennium-old nacreous rocks

be it yours this silken cloak that you place on my shoulders
be it yours these crystal fingers
thus bareshoulder'd
be it yours this rose-leaved temple

Translated by Sebnem Susam

Gülseli İnal (1947, Istanbul) graduated from Atatürk High School for Girls. After studying two years in the Department of English Language and Literature at Istanbul University, she graduated from the Department of Philosophy. Her first poems were published in 1981 in the journal Yazko Edebiyat. Her poems have been published in journals such as Sanat Olayı, Varlık, Oluşum and Sombahar. She established an individual style using mythological sources and examining the relationship of man with himself, nature and the universe via a cosmic and metaphysical dimension. Her books of poetry: Sulara Gömülü Çağrı/The Call Immersed in Water (1985), Lale Sesiydiler ve Yoktular/They Were the Voices of Tulip and They Did not Exist (1987), Letoon/Letoon (1989), Dans Natura/Dance Natura (1990), Bakkaris/Baccharis (1991), Sif ve Gula/Sif and Gula (1992), Saklanmış Levha/Hidden Tablet (1996), Chöd Raksları/Dances of Chöd (1998), Kayıp Bağlantı/Lost Connection (2000), Melek Kolonisi/Colony of Angels (2004), Elektra Uçurumu/Electra Cliff (2005) and Çocukluğun Son Günü/The Last Day of Childhood (2007).