goodbye; allahısmarladık

Καινούριους τόπους δεν θα βρεις, δεν θάβρεις άλλες θάλασσες.
Η πόλις θα σε ακολουθεί. Στους δρόμους θα γυρνάς
τους ίδιους. Και στες γειτονιές τες ίδιες θα γερνάς•
και μες στα ίδια σπίτια αυτά θ' ασπρίζεις.

Yeni bir ülke bulamazsın, başka bir deniz bulamazsın,
bu şehir arkandan gelecektir. Sen gene aynı sokaklarda
dolaşacaksın. Aynı mahallede koşacaksın;
aynı evlerde kır düşecek saçlarına.

You won't find a new country, won't find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.
You'll walk the same streets, grow old
in the same neighborhoods, turn gray in these same houses.

-C.P. Cavafy

(someone once scrawled this stanza from 'The City,' in Turkish, on a wall here in Beyoğlu; there's a photo of it on the cover of the tenth of the journal Mediterraneans: "İstanbul: Many Worlds." How can one not love a neighborhood where the graffiti includes Cavafy?)