Who knows how to make
Lanterns out of watermelon
The way I do.
To carve ogres on it
With a mother-of-pearl,
Jackknife.
To write couplets,
Write letters,
Go to bed,
Get up,
Satisfy my Halime
Of so many years?
We didn’t gray this beard
Of mine at the flour mill.

translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat