We have seas, full of the sun;
We have trees, full of leaves;
From dawn to dusk we go and go and come
Among our seas, among our trees
Full of
The blues.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Month: May 2013
I Love You So by Ahmet Ada
You’ll stand waiting in the rain your eyelashes will grow long
Dusk will descend in a little while
To the water that runs softly to the lonesome asphalt roads
You will walk and your eyelashes will get wet tenderly
And love will accompany you
From the marble sidewalk
“I love you so,” the girl
Who has made a kite out of her heart will say
That girl who sheds leaves when you steal a look
A dawdler, you will walk
Your heart seething with flighty passions
On your lapel a flower that offers all of its fragrance
Inquiring into the loves that have an unhappy ending
The desk will study you, the water glass will be full
When that young girl awakes now
translated by Talat S. Halman
from The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Dreaming is not merely an act of communication (or coded communication, if you like); it is also an aesthetic activity, a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself. Our dreams prove that to imagine–to dream about things that have not happened–is among mankind’s deepest needs.
from Southern Seas by Manuel Vazquez Montalban
He was ushered in by a secretary who had the air of an ex-convent girl about to marry her fiance after a twelve-year courtship.
Suddenly by Nazim Hikmet
Suddenly something snaps in me and catches in my throat,
suddenly, in the middle of work, I jump up,
suddenly, in a hotel, in the hall, standing up, I fall into a dream,
suddenly, on the sidewalk, a branch whacks me in the forehead,
suddenly a wolf howls at the moon, miserable, enraged, starved,
suddenly stars hang from a swing in a garden,
suddenly I see myself in the grave,
suddenly my head is a sunny haze,
suddenly I cling to the day I started out as if it wouldn’t end,
and every time you float up to the surface. . .
translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk
For Many Years. . . . by Kemal Özer
Perhaps the street I’ve gone into and come out of
for so many years will no longer look at my face
nor even remember my name. . .
the sky I carry over my head,
the table at which I have my meals, the bed that gives me haven,
the worries I can’t do away with
to all of them I should bid farewell
say good-bye to all of them at the dawn of this day.
And I should bid welcome my darling
with your face, hands, and voice
to all things that sparkle in my blood.
translated by Talat S. Halman
INTELLIGENCE, GIVE ME by Juan Ramon Jimenez
Intelligence, give me
the exact name of things!
. . . I want my word to be
the thing itself,
created by my soul a second time.
So that those who do not know them
can go to the things through me,
all those who have forgotten them
can go to the things through me,
all those who love them
can go to the things through me. . .
Intelligence, give me
the exact name, and your name
and theirs and mine, for things!
Eyes by Edip Cansever
It seems nothing can provoke
Our inner silence
No sound no word nothing
The eyes bring out the eyes!
Nothing else but this unites us
A leaf touching another leaf
So close and so docile
The hands bring out the hands!
In our age love is an opposition
Let us unite to cast two single shadows. . .
your voice
I heard it so clearly last night
it woke me
I turned to the side you sleep on
to touch your face
to stare into your deep dark eyes
but you weren’t there
only the darkness
and your echo
in my ears
Now by Cengiz Bektaş
I long for my voice that found you
My voice fills the valley with your name
Giving one more dimension
To my heart all wet
On desolate mountaintops
It bounces of right and left
just without you
From tree to tree
I long for my voice that found you
Leonard Durso 