Mohamed Metwalli: Goodbye

I say goodbye to Izmir
To the Aegean Sea
To ships oozing their lights from afar
Silver and gold on the dark waters
To hookers, whose giggles
Still sonorous in the iodine-born air
To a fisherman fighting a rainy storm
On his own
Till his umbrella collapsed
To the carcass of a dove
Hit by a thunder-bolt
In front of my very eyes
Devoured lately by the raven
Then the seagull
To a roving musician
Who sang us a song
From behind the restaurant glass
For two liras
To the Geranium flowers in my balcony
Which waxed lyrical when watered
To the migrants flooding from behind the mountains
Dreaming of this city
Goodbye, I say
Goodbye, beloved Izmir!