Oktay Rifat was a Turkish playwright and founder of the Garip movement in poetry. I suppose you could say that we’re staying in “his” room, since it’s his “I Saw My Hand” poem that identifies it, rather than a usual number. The room is in the small, 19th-century Hotel Poem, in the historic Sultanahmet district, with views of the sea of Marmara.

Rifat would have no trouble today finding water for his drink or for his dams, as it’s been raining steadily since we arrived.

I SAW MY HAND

Drinking water, I saw my hand ,
pink, hollowed and lightly downed.
I said _ hello there , hand, hello!
Hold glass and fork and pen
and when the time comes
don’t hesitate
to hold the sword and gun.
Stand firm, my hero, my lion – hearted friend.

Drinking water, I saw my hand,
speechless and dry
like Ahmet’s hand or Mehmet’s.
Hello, I said, hello you busy hands,
that make trains run , I said,
and electricity work.
You topple mountains,
bring water to the dams,
equip the earth from end to end,
make green the human race.

Drinking water, I saw my hand,
no eyes and ears, alive,
his fine blue weins,
the thumb with pleasure bent,
forefinger nicely crooked,
ring – finger inexplicable,
and the little one in a world of its own

Oktay Rıfat