Yunus is my name, I’m out of my mind.
Love serves as my guide to the very end.
All alone, toward the majestic Friend
I walk kissing the ground—and I arrive.
translated by Talat S. Halman
13th-14th Century Turkish poetry
from an untitled poem by Yunus Emre
Yunus, leave such fears behind,
Drive all care out of your mind.
Love is what one must first find:
One’s a mystic from then on.
translated by Talat S. Halman
Yunus Emre on what love does
Now and then like the winds I blow,
Now and then like the roads I go,
Now and then like the floods I flow,
Come, see what love has done to me.
Hold my hand, lift me from this place
Or take me into your embrace. . .
You made me weep, make me rejoice,
Come, see what love has done to me.
translated by Talat S. Halman
Yunus Emre on love’s torment
Lovelorn, I tread; madly I scream.
My loved one is my only dream;
I wake and plunge into deep gloom.
Come, see what love has done to me.
translated by Talat S. Halman
Leonard Durso 