John RC Potter is an international educator and gay man from Canada, living in Istanbul.  He has experienced a revolution (Indonesia), air strikes (Israel), earthquakes (Turkey), boredom (UAE), and blinding snow blizzards (Canada), the last being the subject of his story, “Snowbound in the House of God” (Memoirist, May 2023). His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have been published in a range of magazines and journals, most recently in The Serulian (“The Memory Box”, September 2023). The author has over a dozen upcoming publications in the coming months, including an essay in The Montreal Review. Website: https://author-blog.org/  / Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnRCPotter    

Longing

By John RC Potter

 

Longing…

               With longing…

                                      I’m longing…

Sad…

        With sadness…

                               I’m sad…

But I know something:

God gives snow according to the mountain!

I only love you,

Without you, just lonely.

But who knows about this situation?

Cold water flows from the mountains,

Gives life from the sun,

Flowers grow from the soil;

Nevertheless…

Everyone comes to the ground at last.

Birth. Life. Death.

It passes like a minute.

Love. Passion. Loyalty.

We say “In the Name of God” together.

But at night I’m alone,

I hold my pillow very close.

In the morning I look at an empty place;

But you are always in my soul.

I’m sad…With sadness…Sad…

Longing…

               I feel longing…

                                      I miss you…

                                                         My longing…

Hasret

(Turkish)

By John RC Potter (author & translator)

Hasret…

Hasretli…

  Hasretliyim…

Hüzün…

 Hüzünlü…

     Hüzünlüyüm…

Ama birşey biliyorum:

Allah dağına göre kar verir!

Sadece seni seviyorum,

sensiz, sadece yalznız.

Fakat bu durumu kim bilir?

Dağlardan soğuk su akıyor,

güneşten yaşam veriyor,

topraktan çiçek büyüyör.

Bununla birlikte…

En son toprağa herkes geliyor.

Doğum. Yaşam. Ölüm.

Bir dakkika gibidir geçer.

Aşk. Tutku. Sadakat.

Birlikte “Bismillah” ederiz.

Ama geceleyin ben yalnız,

yastığım çok yakın tutarım.

Sabahleyin boş bir yere bakarım;

Fakat ruhumında daima varsın.

Hüzünlüyüm…Hüzünlü…Hüzun…

Hasret…

            Hasret kalıyorum…

                                         Hasretini çekiyorum…

                                                                           Hasretim…

Sunday

Translated by John RC Potter

I miss you every day.

I remember you every day.

I hold my pillow close every night.

In the morning, at night, 

from night until morning.

Every day passes; I can wait for you,

but Sunday is the hardest day.

You always live in my heart…

from the past years, so long ago…  

Now, right now,

in the future, after dying…

You…

I love you…

I miss you…

Come home…

There is a light by the window.

 Pazar Günü

(Turkish)

By John RC Potter (author & translator)

Her gün seni özlüyorum.

Her gün seni hatırlıyorum.

Her gece yastığımı yakın tutuyorum.

Sabahleyin, geceleyin, 

geceden sabaha kadar.

Her gün geçer; seni bekleyebilirim,

ama Pazar günü en zor bir gün.

Her zaman kalbımında yaşıyorsun…

geçen yıllardan, çok öncesinden…  

şimdi, şu anda,

gelecekte, ölmekten sonra…

Seni…

Seni seviyorum…

Seni özlüyorum…

Eve gel…

Cam kenarında bir ışık var.

Sometimes

By John RC Potter

Sometimes,

I miss you.

I can’t forget you.

You’re not far away

because I can never forget Indonesia.

I remember one day

we went to a mountain.

This mountain is too high,

you said to me.

You can’t climb;

foreigners can’t do it,

turn around, go back!

But we walked there,

to the top of the mountain.

Me and you, together.

At the top, you took my hand;

we looked at West Java below us.

Later I thought about your words:

the mountain that I had to climb that day was you.

But I still miss you…always.

Kadang-Kadang

(Bahasa Indonesia)

By John RC Potter (author & translator)

Kadang-kadang,

saya rindu kamu.

Saya tidah bisa lupa kamu.

kamu tidah jauh

karena saya tidah bisa pernah lupa indonesia.

Saya ingat satu hari

kami ke satu gunung.

Gunung ini terlalu tinggi,

kamu berkata kepada saya.

kamu tidak bisa memanjat;

buleh-buleh tidah bisa,

berbalik, kembali!

Tapi kami jalan-jalan disana

ke puncak gunung.

Saya dan kamu, bersama.

Di atas kamu meraih tangan saya;

kami melihat Jawa Barat di bawah kami.

Nanti kemudian saya memikirkan kata-kata kamu:

gunung yang harus aku daki hari itu dulu adalah kamu.

Tetapi saya masih rindu kamu…selalu.