If only I had a thousand lives, I promise I would sacrifice each one for you…
For each olive that ripens from your blood-soaked soil…
For the unruly, dark-haired children of your geography, wanted and unwanted…
I promise I would pound my flesh and stretch it over your skies, I would burn as ferociously as Mazlum under the bombardments addressed to your elementary schools.
I promise I would never let a mother bear the expression of Mother Halise, who was posted the remainder of her child’s corpse in a plastic box …
I promise I would become a Zilan and carve out the hearts of your enemies; I promise I would part the worlds of those who lay their hands on you.
If only I had a thousand lives…
I promise I would not desert, decive or delude you in a single one…
I would become Mizgin and fight 1:5000, 1:10000 -but I would not let a single cell be taken captive by the leeches sucking your blood…
I would become a warhorse and dissect the boundaries pinned to your maps by the yankees; I promise I would not change the world for a single shade of your colours…
If I had a thousand lives…
I would become a Sema in Agiri and ignite the lifelines of the hellhounds roaming your grounds; I would taste as bitter as the greeting of Kemal on a bus in Constantinople.
I would become a sun as red as the hairs of Sara, I would harmonize every atom in infinitative universes and I would shine every day for you…
If I had a thousand lives, I would have a thousand too few
And when my lifeless body falls into your affectionate arms,
When we meet at the gates of immortality,
I promise, if I had a thousand lives, I would become a phoenix; I would rise from my ashes every single time for you.
