{"id":42925,"date":"2026-01-31T13:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T11:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/?p=42925"},"modified":"2026-08-19T12:59:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:59:01","slug":"when-istanbul-calls-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/?p=42925","title":{"rendered":"When Istanbul Calls Me!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

When I dream of her,<\/span>
\nshe calls me\u2014<\/span>
\nnot with a voice,<\/span>
\nbut with a hidden summons<\/span>
\nrising from the alleys<\/span>
\nand the trembling of light upon water.<\/span><\/p>\n

I drink from her Bosphorus,<\/span>
\nas if thirst were my name,<\/span>
\nand wonder<\/span>
\na long-delayed homeland.<\/span><\/p>\n

My eyes fall asleep<\/span>
\nupon her stony forehead;<\/span>
\ndomes become pillows,<\/span>
\nand minarets<\/span>
\nthe sky\u2019s deep breaths.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the beauties of Istanbul\u2014<\/span>
\nare not ornaments to be seen,<\/span>
\nbut the order of a heart<\/span>
\nthat knows how to love,<\/span>
\nand the cleanliness of a soul<\/span>
\nthat washes meaning<\/span>
\nbefore place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, beauty<\/span>
\nand refined taste<\/span>
\nexchange their definitions,<\/span>
\nlike two lovers<\/span>
\ninventing language<\/span>
\neach morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

She reminds me<\/span>
\nof the Mother of the World,<\/span>
\nnot because they resemble one another,<\/span>
\nbut because both know<\/span>
\nhow to be<\/span>
\na city<\/span>
\nand a beloved.<\/span><\/p>\n

She is:<\/span>
\na jinn when she smiles,<\/span>
\nan angel when she falls silent,<\/span>
\nand human<\/span>
\nwhen she errs\u2014<\/span>
\nand thus grows<\/span>
\ncloser.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when she calls me,<\/span>
\nI finally understand<\/span>
\nthat cities,<\/span>
\nlike women,<\/span>
\nare not loved by reason,<\/span>
\nbut by<\/span>
\nbelonging.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the road,<\/span>
\nI realize that Cairo<\/span>
\nwas never far away;<\/span>
\nshe was walking beside me<\/span>
\nas I crossed<\/span>
\nIstanbul.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same steps,<\/span>
\nheavy<\/span>
\nwith meaning.<\/span>
\nThe same smile<\/span>
\nthat knows sorrow<\/span>
\nyet<\/span>
\nrefuses to surrender it.<\/span>
\nThe same heart<\/span>
\nthat opens its windows to the stranger<\/span>
\nas if he were<\/span>
\na child<\/span>
\nof the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cairo<\/span>
\nand Istanbul\u2014<\/span>
\ntwo cities<\/span>
\nthat do not compete,<\/span>
\nbut<\/span>
\nembrace<\/span>
\nthrough memory,<\/span>
\nthrough history,<\/span>
\nthrough a single<\/span>
\npulse:<\/span>
\nif it stops in one,<\/span>
\nthe other<\/span>
\ngasps.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so,<\/span>
\nwhen I leave,<\/span>
\nI do not bid farewell to a city,<\/span>
\nbut<\/span>
\nshake hands with a sister<\/span>
\nwho resembles the first<\/span>
\nin spirit\u2014<\/span>
\nand differs<\/span>
\nonly<\/span>
\nin name.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe   When I dream of her, she calls me\u2014 not with a voice, but with a hidden summons rising from the alleys and the trembling of light upon water. I drink from her Bosphorus, as if thirst were my name, and wonder a long-delayed homeland. My eyes fall asleep upon her stony …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,388],"tags":[1594,2939,9894,2726],"class_list":["post-42925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chief-editor","category-slide","tag-calls","tag-istanbul","tag-me","tag-when"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42925"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45075,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42925\/revisions\/45075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aldiplomasy.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}