A Total Waste Şiiri - İdris Esen

Once upon a time, as narrated by a preacher,
There lived a weird three-legged creature
Standing on two continents, formally
Two legs on Asia, one on Europe, abnormally
This was strange; an outright anomaly!

Let there be two legs on each continent!
Though it sounded a bit impertinent
And there were two on each,
The fourth one, though, near a useless beach
An unfinished hotel construction
Probably pushed by the owner as a site for instruction
Why buy this junk in such haste
In a most unsuitable environment; a total waste!
Entirely devoid of academic or social taste.

Alas, before the mammal family had time to cheer
Poor mamma lost an Asian leg in about a year,
The mighty one placed at magnificent Üsküdar,
Which was, to some of us, so dear.

No opinions asked, no excuses given
To the western edge of The Golden Horn,
English Prep. School was force-driven.
To fit in an old admin building,
Reluctantly, the program and the activities were cut to size.
Was this a calamity or a blessing in disguise?
An enigma to be solved by the shrewd and the wise.
Who knows?
What life holds for us is, perhaps, a delightful surprise.

İdris ESEN, November 28, 2013, Erenköy