ODE TO THE BLACK SEA

I stand on a beach in Bulgaria

facing east

My line of sight travels a hawk’s path

ending up in Georgia

roosting in the mountains of Caucasus.

No matter which shore you stand on

of this bean-shaped sea

Our mare nostrum

Our Karadeniz, Cherno More

Marea Neagra

You look to the horizon

and see a mirrored world:

Trebizond looks to Crimea

Istanbul to Odessa

My eyes look into yours

on the opposite shore

they ask

How are you doing?

Are you happy?

What do we do now?

What is the purpose of our lives?

Do we have an understanding?

You must be out there too tonight

looking to the sea past beach disco lights

reflecting in the water, your soul going

far beyond the twinkle of the tankers

to reach out for mine

Are you also looking for love

Are you also contemplating

the beauty of creation

or that of a beautiful girl playing

beach volley or walking

on the sea strand with her friends

We aren’t that different from each other

Neither are our worlds and nations

across Caucasus and Asia Minor

nor the Mediterranean

Maybe ours is more nouveau-riche

dotted with discos on the beach blaring

deafening turbo-folk music, sparkling red

Ferraris slaloming through potholes

on crumbling seaside avenues

blasting loud hip-hop in Turkic, Slavic

Indo-European languages

Opulent restaurants with no patrons

smoky cafés with middle-aged men

burning through cigars with money in hand

throwing dice on backgammon boards

eyeing strangers from behind dark aviators

waiting for the coffee ground to settle

at the bottom of their dusty cups.

For millennia peoples of this sea

cast their nets in hope of the daily catch

They pushed out their ships

in search for other shores

for trade or conquest

and the distant shores

waited for them

preparing for the worst

but still hoping for the best

All of the peoples

with their multitudes of languages and voices

praying in the silence of the cruel sky

hoping not to be all alone

drifting in the black seas of the universe.

A. Daniyal was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and grew up in a small town in northern Italy. He moved to Canada in 2008. His work has been published in Ahoy Literary, The Imagist, The Polyglot, among others. He resides in Montreal.

ODE TO THE BLACK SEA is a poem version of a longer piece of prose by A. Daniyal published in SQUID Issue 01.