{"id":10709,"date":"2022-04-09T04:17:17","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T09:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=10709"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T22:50:18","slug":"a-borderlands-quatrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2022\/04\/09\/a-borderlands-quatrain\/","title":{"rendered":"A Borderlands Quatrain"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 39\u00b033’19″N 44\u00b003’57″E<\/a><\/h6>\n

An eye is meant to see things.<\/em>
\nThe soul is here for its own joy.<\/em>
\nA head has one use: for loving a true love.<\/em>
\nLegs: to run after. \u2013 <\/em>Rumi <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Climbing<\/a><\/p>\n

There are ghosts out here on these borders. Once you leave the sea and climb high up past the tree line and reach the plateau, the wide barren landscape sweeps away before you. The dust of time burying the footprints of the past. The arid land cradled cities and civilizations for centuries, until the earth shook off the people and sent them scattering in other directions. Ravines carved deep borders, and armies separated friends and families, making enemies of them. Spirits here wander lost and in search of rest. You can feel their presence. And their pain.<\/p>\n

Ani
\n<\/h6>\n

This is the border of Turkey and Armenia at Ani<\/a>, an ancient city abandoned a thousand years ago. Churches on the west side of the river became mosques as the vanquished retreated. This despite sharing a common belief in one God. The foundation blocks of prosperity are all that remain. A few sharp angles jutting from the brilliant snowfield, tramped down by young and curious women in hijabs and styled men in black leather jackets and beards.<\/p>\n

Ararat
\n<\/h6>\n

A hundred miles south, the border joins Iran’s and briefly Azerbaijan’s. Fiercely guarded on all sides by miles of fencing with razor wire, remote sensors and infra-red cameras keep watch mounted high up on towers. Four miles from the border the military will stop you and turn you away if you aren\u2019t planning to cross. And forget about going into Armenia from Turkey over land. You can only get there via Georgia or Iran.<\/p>\n

Mount Ararat dominates the skyline and looms over the wide flat valley along its southern edge. The tattered mountains form a natural barrier that kept sultans and princes safe for centuries. Stretching across the ridgeline, fences lift the mountains another three metres with the flourish of an illustrator\u2019s pen.<\/p>\n

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