Month: October 2014
from Lady Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn 4
Autumn’s chill infuses crystalline wind.
A moon drifts heaven’s exquisite depths,
radiant. Lovely women ready winter robes,
ten thousand sticks beating frozen stone.
translated by David Hinton
NOTE: using sticks to beat clothing on special stones in autumn was a ritual women had to show longing for lovers taken far off to war.
from Lady Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn 3
Autumn night at the open window
makes bed-curtains float and sway.
I gaze up at the bright moon, send
such love a thousand radiant miles.
translated by David Hinton
from Lady Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn 2
Wild geese set out for their southlands,
and city-bred swallows wing northward.
If you’ve lost your way, my far-off love,
just follow the autumn wind back home.
translated by David Hinton
from Lady Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn 1
I can’t sleep. The night’s long and
the bright moon so radiant, radiant.
Thinking I hear his scattered voice,
I call back, answering empty skies.
translated by David Hinton
Yellow Blight by Cemal Süreya
My breath is a red bird
In the auburn sky of your hair
When I embrace you
Your legs grow long beyond words
My breath becomes a red horse
I can tell from my burning cheeks
We are destitute our nights are short
Let’s make love at full tilt
translated by Talat S. Halman
The Sea, the Memory, and the Woman by Seyfettin Başcıllar
Everything started again in a harbor
The sea, the memory, and the woman.
Being naked, you were shivering
Your hair had come loose all the way down.
There were no flowers in the pot, no stars,
I didn’t have the money to buy you flowers.
Only the sky was left and a song,
There were patchy clouds in the sky,
You were there, your eyes too;
Besides your eyes were black as could be.
Everything started all over again.
translated by Talat S. Halman
on expiration dates
no matter
how healthy
it is for you
if it has expired
the opposite
is most likely
true
Güler’s Hours of Love by Necati Cumalı
That was a different time
Of all times,
Inside the tiniest earrings
Of white, round beads
She left by my bedside
Were light beams and shadows.
Perhaps Güler’s hours of love
Remained in those worlds. . .
Or maybe they flew away
Descending onto a vacant shore
With suns receding from rooms.
Day breaks, night descends.
Those kisses and caresses
Are now bright white pebbles
Found by children.
translated by Talat S. Halman
Weekly Agenda of Love by M. Sami Aşar
Monday I expect a letter from you
Tuesday I pour my distress onto paper
Wednesday your voice resounds in the void
I shall sigh my heart out on Thursday
Friday I am in the theater of memories
Saturday is pregnant to so much
How about Sunday my love
Just wait for Sunday
translated by Talat S. Halman
Leonard Durso 