To the fish, an ocean is necessary.
To make love, you must be unemployed.
And on the bed at night.
To not feel pain in your feet,
You must be rich.
But in order to whistle,
You need nothing at all.
translated by Sidney Wade & Efe Murad
20th Century Turkish poetry
Letter from a Dead Friend by Melih Cevdet Anday
I live as in the olden days,
Wandering around, thinking,
Except I get on ferries and trains without a ticket.
I shop without bargaining.
I stay home at night, all comfortable.
(I only open the windows if I’m bored):
Ah . . . to scratch my head, to pick flowers . . .
Every now and then I wish I could shake someone’s hand.
translated by Sidney Wade & Efe Murad
Love by Oktay Rıfat
My God how lonely it was face to face
With that wild love in your breast
Wilder than a rapacious beast.
translated by Ruth Christie & Richard McKane
Woman In White by Oktay Rıfat
Woman in white on the balcony
Core of the landscape
Heart of this limitless order
Under a blue sky
Woman in white on the balcony
A measure of colour and space
Drops from her shoulders
A crystal waterfall of time
translated by Ruth Christie & Richard McKane
To My Wife by Oktay Rıfat
You bring coolness to the halls
A sense of space to rooms
To wake in your bed in the morning
Gives me daylong joy
We are two halves of the apple
Our day and night
Our house and home are one
Happiness is a meadow
Where you tread
It springs to life
Loneliness comes from the road you go down
Translated by Ruth Christie & Richard McKane
Small Village by Oktay Rıfat
How small is this village
Gaunt and defenseless
When night comes
It summons the wolves
Children toss and turn in fear
The oil lamp holds out
As long as it can.
translated by Ruth Christie & Richard McKane
from About Life: 1 by Arife Kalender
The sun
Among the quivering leaves
in silence touched my face
Joined me for tea, we lit a cigarette
Two old friends . . .
I sift the days
With a sieve in my hand
On it
Days that will never be re-lived
At the same place and hour . . .
Does living mean getting older, for
it is secretly prevading my wrinkles . . .
translated by Mukadder Aykırı & Suat Karantay
Jam by Sunay Akın
Never was I able to smile
at her sickbed
that’s why mom
was unaware
of the dimple
on my left cheek
As the medicine on the
bedside table accumulated
I would rejoice in
the growing skyscraper
I made from the boxes
And I didn’t realize
that the only color
in mom’s life
was the jams
in the jars
lined up on the shelves.
translated by Suat Karantay
Toys by Akgün Akova
when a child
is taken into the operation room
his toys
knowing that life is a game
easily spoilt
wait for him
behind the door
weeping
translated by Cevat Çapan
from For Distant Destinies by Turgut Uyar
I know, one day when sitting at a park
A hand will touch my shoulders as rain
A pair of eyes, an invitation, a heart
I’ll leave everyone behind . . .
Leaves will fall, flowers will wither
There will be an autumn, a morning and a rain
With scents of the earth and of people,
In a howling drunkenness, for the years
I’ll leave, go on my own.
translated by Omer Kursat
Leonard Durso 