TWO TULIPS

They were two old friends. They went to both high school and law school together. After their officer training they were separated. Huseyin was staying in Istanbul, Munir was going to Gallipoli. But their friendship wouldn’t end. They both decided to correspond.

One of Munir’s letters from Gallipoli to Huseyin:

I got up from my earth bedstead. I’m approaching the edge of the hole and looking out of it now. The earth is wet because of the fog and humidity… Sweet grass is flowing down like emerald creeks. The Sun is rising …

The British are late today. We don’t hear any sound of weapons as we are used to. Now, I’m going down and writing the letter down here on the earth. My friend is busy with signing some papers. I need sleep so much right now. I didn’t sleep last night because of the fires of heavy cannons.

… My commander is calling me now. I’ll continue writing. …

… Now, I’m back. But I can’t continue my letter because the British started to fire. It’s so harsh. Wow! Today’s fight is different. It’s like a hell here. I wish I had some sleep. The sound of the heavy bullets is so loud that your ear can’t resist. Bye my brother.

While I was going to see the commander, I picked up two tulips. I’m enclosing them to the letter as a souvenir of Gallipoli. I hope we’ll see each other again.

The letter reached its destination three weeks later. There was a little note signed by a name, Nihat:

Sir, I’m a friend of Munir. He died. I was wounded and now I’m in the hospital. I’m sending this the letter that he could have time to post. Because he wrote this a day before he became a martyr.

And Huseyin says:

I read the letter crying like a little child. There were two tulips next to his signature. Oh, my dear Munir … Now, you are one of those red tulips with your bloody body on the tulip field.

Deniz Gizem Aksoy
9K Etimesgut Anatolian High School Ankara / TURKEY