Short Stories
ISBN : 9756107362
200 pages
Ebat : 11,5 x 21 cm.
The big plane tree was on one side and the small plane on the other side. A river streamed between them. They were as close to one another as a river but also far away from one another as a river too.
The big plane was mature, in full bloom, experienced and his name was Zer. While the small plane was young, lively and her name was Sim. They had called the river, which had parted them, “Firak”.
It was like there weren’t any other trees around. They would only see, love, miss and want each other.
They would adorn themselves in spring, leaf out in summer, fade in autumn and undress in winter. To sprout and leaf is from their desire to unite, and to yellow and fade is from the pain of separation. When there is snow, storm or frost, Zer would be upset for Sim, and Sim would get worried for Zer.
They only had one wish: to reunite! They had no feet to run to each other, or wings to fly to one another. If one could have at least crossed the river! No, this was impossible.
“If only we could be side by side!” Zer would say.
When the sun started to lighten up everywhere, they would get so happy and when it set they would get upset. In actual fact, the darkness was no hindrance for them. They would build fanciful hopes until morning and see dreams.
They would watch the moonlight at night. This common sight would give them the feeling as if they were looking at each other. It was much more easy to dream when they were looking up into the sky.
“The shining moon!” Zer would say.
“Shared by both of us!” Sim would complete his words.
Actually, they would communicate without talking too but from time to time they would speak as well. The wind was their confidant. It would carry their whispers. They would take poems, deep sighs and outcries of longing from one side to the other.
“I wish I was there next to you!” Zer would say.
“I wish you were here next to me!” Sim would say like an echo.
And there were the birds too! The birds who were so understanding. They would come, nestle in their branches, sleep in their arms and they would be a mother and father to them. The birds were the postman of the trees which sighed deeply.
Sometimes they would send one another letters, they would send leaves for one another. The wind would work like a courier then. Zer’s leaves would fly to Sim, and Sim’s pages would settle on Zer.
Sometimes what was carried was music and sometimes a poem. They would say words of love, longing and separation to one another. They had a secret. They wouldn’t say what it was but would share it in the most intense way.
“I’m with you!” one would say.
“You’re with me!” they other would say.
They were like a word and meaning. Maybe, on the face of it, they looked separated but in reality, they were one. They believed in this, but they still couldn’t help themselves from burning with the desire to reunite!
“You’re big and I am small” Sim would say with her fragile voice. “You’re spring, and I am summer” Zer would say. Then, both of them would shout:
“There is no you, and no I, but what exists is us!
We complete each other!”
Yes, they weren’t side by side but they used to live the joy of reuniting in a different way. When autumn would come, both their leaves would fall. Then, the leaves, which flew from one side to the other with the wind, would meld.
These were leaves which would yellow with longing. Even though they themselves wouldn’t reunite, at least their parts were. With the affect of the breezes, they would play about from leaf to leaf.
They also had another way of reuniting: their shadows, leaves, poems, longings, loves would fall in the water. The river would become their home of reuniting. They would be seen together in the mirror of the water. Then they’d be so happy!
...
They were content with this too but this state wasn’t to last for long either. A woodcutter had come to the forest. They shook with fear. The man with the ax in his hand started to look about thinking which one should I cut down, I wonder. His eyes were the eyes of an executioner!
Both Zer and Sim were calling the executioner to themselves. “Come to me, cut me down! Look I have lived a long time!” Zer was saying. “I’m young, cut me down, I won’t cause any hardship for you!” Sim would cry.
The woodcutter headed towards the thin and easy one. He cut down Sim who was still living her youth, and he knocked her down. He threw her in the river so that it would carry her. He never even heard Zer’s outcry, which had echoed in the skies.
Even though Zer said “Cut me, me too!” he just couldn’t get him to hear it. He wailed with pain after his beloved one.
He then begged the winds. “Please blow! Blow with a strength which you have never blown with before! Become a storm!” he said.
“Why?” asked the wind.
“Knock me down to the river! Look, she’s going!” said Zer.
The wind understood what was going on. With a speed, violence and passion, which was never seen before, it blew, blew, blew. It became a storm.
The aged trunk of Zer could not stand this storm, and was knocked down into the water. He started to flow behind Sim. “We will eventually reunite somewhere. We are going towards the same way!” he was saying.
And that is exactly what had happened… They came before a timber factory as they swam. Men came next to them and pulled them out of the river. They cut them, sheared them, made them into wood and took them to the depot.
The man at the depot stacked their parts on one another. They dried their for months and there was no trace of life left of them. Yet, their feelings were still alive. When it was night, they would whisper amongst themselves.
They had only one prayer: To never part!
...
The manifestation of mercy was not late… A furnisher bought the wood and took them to his workshop. He made a beautiful study table. He put it on the display case to sell.
Now they were whispering to one another in the table. “We have now become one” they were saying.
“This table needs a name” Sim said.
They thought about it for nights.
“Let it be Simuzer” Zer said.
Thus, two names were going to become one.
“Let it be” said Sim.
They were in the display case. They saw a boy and a girl on the street. They were walking fast like they were in some kind of hurry. They were together but looked as though they were separate. Or did they have a river between them too!
Their hearts were together but their hands weren’t. Did they have a secret? The boy seemed like words which were never told. The girl looked like poems which were never written. “They look like us” whispered Sim.
Months followed one another. They were on the display case again. They felt a shadow on the table, a shadow of a man. It was that man! The “unwritten poem” was not with him now. Where was she?
There was sadness in the man’s eyes. While his face was smiling, his eyes were not accompanying it. The man had lost his smile. He was looking at the table persistently as though he was looking for her. He went inside, bargained, bought the table and took it to his room.
He was going to write poems on it! And he had been… Sim and Zer were happy about this. They just had a life without a life! This was such a bone-dry life. So! The man was writing poetry, that wasn’t something you could ignore?
“Let’s help him” said Sim.
“What should we do?” asked Zer.
“Let’s tell him about us! Let him hear so that he can learn about our love. Maybe he would write our epic too.”
They were going to talk with him at night. They always spoke at night. If he waited for night, then the man could hear them. They spoke. The man was never left devoid of inspiration during the nights.
...
They were together, they were meant to be happy but they just weren’t. They had a pain in their hearts, a deep pain. It was like an emptiness which was left over from a life unlived! This togetherness had seemed like a bad marriage.
It shouldn’t have been like this…
Zer sighed deeply. He said, “I wish we were side by side next to our river!” as though he was talking to himself.
“I wish we had been together!” wailed Sim.
They went quiet, full of pain.
They remembered their branches, their leaves, the chirping of the birds, the splashing of the rain, their folk songs of the river, and the humming of the wind. They heaved a sigh… There were no more springs and nor were there any more summers.
They were now bone-dry. They cried for a long time without even shedding tears. Their whispers turned into wishes. They were repeating them every night without getting tired of it.
Going back was impossible, they had understood this but, going forward was possible they had realised this. There weren’t just memories, there were also hopes and dreams.
“If we could be in heaven…” Sim was saying.
“If we could live side by side…” Zer was saying.
“If a river could stream in front of us…”
“If that river couldn’t separate us…”
“If birds could settle on our branches…”
