Izmir

Only at the thought

that the sea view

is in the other side

the feeling is different...

It's like you're step up down

to an adjacent square

diagonally in

The cartographic model

on a chessboard...

And Homer had look to the sea

from this perspective, different

from the point

of view

of the conquerors

of The Troy...

From this side to the sea

much further south

have seen before

those who

bequeathed to us

the eternal sacred texts…

It is no coincidence

that the ingredients

for sacraments

are Myrrh(a) - Smyrna and Al Luban

like Myrrh(a)- Smyrna and the Lebanon/ Levant...

And that motley ethnic mix

vertically in

the stratigraphic layers

of history

and horizontally now...

In the beautiful gardens

among the heights of the city

in the form of an agora and

remains of ancient temples

you sit among soft cushions yastiklar[i]

with legs crossed in Turkish custom,

sip coffee among the deep blue,

lit by the eternal eastern sun,

sky...

You stare to the sea

and to the city...

To the city and

to the sea...

To the sea

and further to the West...

To the sea

and the Sunset,

with the self-esteem

that you will always be part

of the Sunrise

and history

from the birth of the world

as Homer once,

the biblical sages

and all people,

known and unknown

righteous and prodigals…

Prodigal, like the merchant

with raisins in the pockets

from Thomas S. Eliot's poem...

Righteous as the Apostles of Faith-

known and unknown...

Probably Constantin Fotinov too

has seen the sea on this side

when he was inspired

to publish a magazine "Любословие"[ii]...

O, Izmir!

A land of crossroads and contrasts!

Sapphire sea, olives,

fish, coffee brewed on sand,

snuff, oranges,

wine of dark grapes and figs...

... and the song for the girl from

Bornova / Μπουρνοβαλια.

[i] Yastik is a turkish word for a pillow,

very specific for Balkan languages, have

an orient connotation.

[ii] „Любословие“- “Ljuboslovie” is

a First Bulgarian magazine from first part

 of 19- th Century.