Month: May 2014

Impromptu by Meng Chiao: posted for certain friends of mine

/ zdunno03 / 1 Comment

Keep away from sharp swords,
Don’t go near lovely woman.
A sharp sword too close will wound your hand,
Woman’s beauty too close will wound your life.
The danger of the road is not in the distance,
Ten yards is far enough to break a wheel.
The peril of love is not in loving too often,
A single evening can leave its wound in the soul.

translated by A.C. Graham

time passing

/ zdunno03 / 9 Comments

Chuck says
when we were younger
it was sort of a whimsy
to think of time passing
before we shrugged it off
and moved on with our day
now it’s a reality
fleeting has a new meaning
and each day
each moment
a new significance
there is nothing quite like
these Saturday morning conversations
to remind one
of things one cannot overlook
anymore
so it’s Judy Collins
on the stereo
which prompted that comment
and wine this early
in the morning
and the hell with time
let it pass
there’s laundry to do
some food shopping
buy a steak to eat
with eggs for breakfast
tomorrow morning
and dare that specter
to try anything funny
with me today

why one does what one does: for RU & NB

/ zdunno03 / 7 Comments

there is that light
in the eyes
that wasn’t there
some weeks before
a phrase maybe
a look a smile
the way you danced down the aisle
a certain stress of an unfamilar word
an analogy used
it could be anything
or everything
but it was something
you did
that changed a little corner
of this world
your job
you think
done
yes, your job
who you are in this world
God’s angels
with your passion
spreading hope
one day at a time

Exodus by Orhan Veli Kanık

/ zdunno03 / 3 Comments

I

From his window overlooking the roofs
The harbor was in sight
Church bells
Tolled all day long.
From his bed the trains could be heard
From time to time
And at night.
He loved a girl
Who lived in the house across the street.
Be that as it may,
He left this town
And moved to another.

II

Now the poplars are in view
Out of his window
Along the canal.
Daytime it keeps raining
And the moon is up at night.
There’s a market in the square nearby.
As for him, all the time,
Whatever it is–a trip or money or a letter,
He keeps thinking of something.

translated by Talat S. Halman

Living by Orhan Veli Kanık

/ zdunno03 / 1 Comment

I

I know living isn’t an easy thing to do
Or falling in love and singing of your girl
Taking a stroll under the stars at night
Warming up in the sunshine by day
Sneaking out for half a day to take it easy
On top of Istanbul’s loveliest hill
–Countless shades of blue flow in the Bosphorus–
And to forget all in the legions of blue.

II

I know living isn’t an easy thing to do
But look
The bed of a dead man is still warm,
A dead man’s wristwatch is ticking.
Brother, living is no easy affair,
But dying isn’t easy, either.

Leaving the world isn’t easy at all.

translated by Talat S. Halman

For You by Orhan Veli Kanık

/ zdunno03 / Leave a comment

For you, my fellow humans,
Everything is for you,
Nights are for you, days are for you;
Daylight is for you, moonlight is for you;
Leaves in the moonlight,
Wonder and wisdom in the leaves,
Myriad greens in daylight,
Yellow is for you, and pink.
The feel of the skin on the palm,
Its warmth,
Its softness,
The comfort of lying down;
For you are all the greetings
And the masts swaying in the harbor;
Names of the days,
Names of the months,
Fresh paint on rowboats is for you,
Mailmen’s feet,
Potters’ hands,
Sweat on foreheads.
Bullets fired on battlefields;
Graves are for you and tombstones,
Jails and handcuffs and death sentences
Are for you.
Everything is for you.

translated by Talat S. Halman