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
poetry
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
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. . .
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
Song Of The Rider by Federico Garcia Lorca
Cordoba.
Distant and alone.
Black pony, full moon,
and olives inside my saddlebag.
Though I know the roads well,
I will never arrive at Cordoba.
Over the low plains, over the winds,
black pony, red moon.
Death is looking down at me
from the towers of Cordoba.
What a long road this is!
What a brave horse I have!
Death is looking for me
before I get to Cordoba!
Cordoba.
Distant and alone.
An Aztec Love Song
I know not whether you have been absent:
I lie down with you, I rise up with you,
In my dreams you are with me.
If my teardrops tremble in my ears,
I know it is you moving within my heart.
translated by D,G. Britton & John Bierhorst
Separation by Nazim Hikmet
separation swings through the air like a steel bar
it keeps smacking me in the face
I’m staggering
I run away it chases me
there’s no escaping it
my knees fail I’m falling
separation isn’t time or distance
it’s the bridge between us
finer than silk thread sharper than a sword
finer than silk thread sharper than a sword
separation is the bridge between us
even when we sit knee to knee
Leonard Durso 