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Somehow as the sun sets

The thrill of being alive startles

 

Is it love alone

Or your starlit smile

 

The play of Istanbul

Theenchantment of kediler **

 

This thrill of life persists

Despite the world

 

Despite unimaginable

And hideous atrocities

 

We must not avert our eyes

Or escape to the suburbs of the mind

 

The faith of this hour

Is anxious patience

 

Panic prescribed as sanity

Thanks Greta’

 

Remember to observe bravery

Along the Gaza fence

 

Remember refugees

Human and desperate

 

And those killed and maimed

Because their skin is darker

 

Or their god(s) differ

Despite being the same

 

Then and only then

Succumb to flowers and maidens

 

Only then visit forests

To bless magical animals

 

While living and dying

Keep your gaze, affirm

 

This impossible faith

By smiles, by tears

 

This forever fervor

Keeping birthdays precious

 

To be old and engaged

Is to be truly young

 

To be old and enraged

Is to be truly young

 

To affirm the affirmable

And fight the abominable

 

Is to be truly young

Great fortune at 89

 

 

Richard Falk

Istanbul, November 13, 2019