VOLKAN HACIOĞLU

VOLKAN HACIOĞLU

BUCEPHALUS

A leuco star on his brow, an ox-head mark on his haunch

The horse, on the same day by his rider, born and dies

As unknown as Fate, and as easy as Might,

Bluer than Macedonian skies are his wall eyes.

His shadow is an emerald tear falling on the world

The mist in the Druid forests clears,

An arrow shot off from the castle of sun

In battle fields takes the revenge Nemesis.

In his ear the whisper of a Delphian oracle

Wind washes away the King tombs in mountains,

The light in his glance hides the secret of Sphinx

Whilst waves beat the Temple steps.

It was day and night that breeds life and death

Eagles were guiding the Thessalian Bucephalus,

Aristotle’s student cut the knot with a sword

From a deep darkness to a far luminous.

VOLKAN HACIOĞLU

ON READING FAUST

Only bodies come and go,

The Spirit arrives and departs

To and from the destination

Of an unknown destiny.

Furious Faust says: “Miracle

Is the dearest son of belief,”

And mischievous Mephisto

Replies: “Dear friend, all theories

Are pale. But the golden tree

Of life is alive and evergreen.”

The difference is feeling of sorrow

Conscious dreams of shadows.

Not appearance, but apperception,

Movement, metamorphosis, ad infinitum.

Observing the unobservable

Stars make landfall upon Nederland

Before the rise of the Sun and Moon.

A prehistorical moment

Concrete and inconcrete

Make life and death at last meet.

VOLKAN HACIOĞLU

TIME GAVE ME NEW EYEGLASSES

Time gave me new eyeglasses

That shows both near and far;

To look at the World from within a poem

Was the most real Virtue among virtues.

Time gave me new eyeglasses

That shows myself and everyone;

To look at the Hope from within a human being

Was the very self of Truths.

Time gave me new eyeglasses

That shows stars with crystal lenses;

To look at the Freedom from within a universe

Was the most harmonious of songs.

Time gave me new eyeglasses

That shows darkness and light;

To look at the Sun from within a sky

Was the most beautiful of revolutions.

Time gave me new eyeglasses

That shows life and death;

To look at the Eternity from within a heart

Was the most wonderful of loves.

VOLKAN HACIOĞLU

VOLKAN HACIOGLU was born in Istanbul, Turkey on 26 September 1977. He earned B.A. in 2000, and then M.A. in 2003 both at Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics. In 2006 he matriculated in the Ph.D. program in economics at State University of New York at Albany, College of Arts and Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in 2010. He lectured courses of Æsthetics at Nazim Hikmet Academy. Since 1997 his poems, essays on poetry and poetry translations appeared in various journals and magazines. Hes has six books of poetry published. He is the-editor-in-chief of the international multilingual magazine Rosetta World Literatura.