On cloudless nights
right before darkness falls
big balloons around here
sometimes appear in the sky;
like pears upside down
they drift away slowly
with flames from their burners
occasionally flaring.

And you imagine
getting on one and rising up high;
the ropes moved by the wind
the basket swinging in empty space
and beneath a life’s
familiar landscapes:
fields of hope, hills of love
darkened woods
where dreams come to an end
a few bitter towns
not removed from memory yet
and roads of regret
stretching away bending and curling
all are small, even, remote
and now almost forgotten
as the day fades slowly away.

translated by Didem Ünlü & Suat Karantay