For Those Who Will Sail Across The Oceans Poem by Ulas Basar Gezgin

A palm extends her neck towards the ocean
So that her shadow would fall on seaweeds, on fish.
The lands are narrow for her or
The ocean is immense, much more immense.

If the salty water won't cool my branches,
Let my head touch the dunes and not the clouds.
Let my leaves fall on blue depths
Rather than decaying in the soil.

Let a sailor disperse my seeds, at first
On the deck washed ceaselessly by salty water
Let him carry me to unexplored lands, never seen before
So that my shadow may cover all the oceans.

When one day, an ax of a human hand will slide
Into my truck that was stretched due to my extending for a long time,
Let my inside be comrade to the depths,
Out of me, a long, a long cooling.

You too extended your neck like that palm,
Even if your shadow fall on other lands, other people,
Your country will always welcome your roots,
Even if your blue voyage lasts for a millenium.



15.03.2009, HCMC, Vietnam