The air filled with a pungent charcoal smell

     And the doors closed before sunset;

From that neighborhood as languid as a laudanum

You are the only surviving trace in my memory, you

     Who smiled at the vast light in your own dreams.

     With your eyes, your teeth, and your white neck

        What a sweet neighbor you were, Fahriye abla!

 

        Your house was as small as a neat box;

     Its balcony thickly intertwined and the shades

        Of ivies at the tiny hours of the sunset

        Washed over in a nearby hidden brook.

A green flowerpot stood in your window all year round

     And in spring acacias blossomed in your garden

  What a charming neighbor you were, Fahriye abla!

 

   Earlier you had long hair, then short and styled;

Light-complexioned, you were as tall as an ear of corn,

     Your wrists laden with ample golden bracelets

                    Tickled the heart of all men

And occasionally your short skirt swayed in the wind.

                You sang mostly obscene love songs

        What a sexy neighbor you were, Fahriye abla!

 

     Rumors had it that you were in love with that lad

   And finally you were married to a man from Erzincan

I don’t know whether you still live with your first husband

  Or whether you are in Erzincan of snowy mountaintops.

        Let my heart recollect the long-forgotten days

     Things that live in memory do not change by time

          What a nice neighbor you were, Fahriye abla!