I said if it was spring
upon seeing the basil bloom suddenly
an undeniable eternity
hand in hand with heartbreaking feelings
winter
winter of course
or so
or fall
ask that to lovers
but if you ask me
it’s like the summer sweat on a child
that dries and fades away
translated by Omer Kursat
20th Century Turkish poetry
If I Come By Now by Turgut Uyar
if I come by now, you’ve bathed
combed your hair.
droplets on your forehead,
a lightness in your face.
like the stars after a mist
your fingers have turned pink
you’re sprawled on the bed . . .
I wrote this as a love song, my bride
rain is now falling on the roads, on the leaves.
if I come by you are home,
together with all the warmth.
your bosom covered
your lips apart.
if you would breathe upon and warm my hands.
. . . .
but where are you now. . .
translated by Omer Kursat
Pale Blue by Aslı Durak
Hold my hand
Not to carry me far away . . . no
My roots and branches
Will strain for distant clouds
Maybe my eyes
Are in that same pavilion of loneliness now
Let my face again be the statue of sadness
When you beautify me
Maybe
I’m a pale blue woman now
translated by George Messo
A Windless Poppy by Aslı Durak
Touched-leaves still on the floor
It danced with wind
Swayed in her bloody shawl
Wind cut dead
And the dance half done
In coarse, dark rasping pain
The poppy sheds its leaves
translated by George Messo
Wind by Ayten Mutlu
woman smaller than a grain of sand
the sea smaller stili than a woman’s pain
it came and went that ancient wind
ignoring the sea and the Milky Way
and the woman walked with her naked memories
never stepping on the sand or the stars
translated by George Messo
Two Hearts by Cemal Süreya
The shortest path between two hearts:
Two arms
That reach out and every so often
Can only touch with fingertips.
I run to where the stairs are,
Waiting is time’s show of strength;
I cannot find you I’ve arrived too early
It’s as if a rehearsal is taking place.
Birds have flocked together migrating
I wish I loved you only for this.
translated by Omer Kursat
At The Afyon Train Station by Cemal Süreya
Remember the little girl at the Afyon train station, you know,
She had removed her shoes as she boarded the train;
Recall the Varto earthquake,
The carton of powdered milk and the bra
Sent as aid from the West.
The man had whitewashed his walls with the milk powder,
His wife had kept the bra, not knowing what it was
She was going to use them as earmuffs in winter;
My God, were these really your childhood days?
Crowds sitting outside on doorsteps
I wish I loved you only for this.
translated by Omer Kursat
Birds And Clouds by Melih Cevdet Anday
I found it in the cellar of a caravanserai
Under a copper lamp,
An ancient handwritten manuscript of the Isagoge,
Perhaps dating from the Seljuk Empire,
Wine stains on every page.
I don’t know whether it was the author or a reader,
But right at the end, in a secret place,
He added these frightentng words:
The sky is our brain’s membrane,
Birds and clouds wander around in it.
A Winter Night by Oktay Rıfat
A winter night
Came to my room
And sat crosslegged on the sofa
Drank my coffee
Looked at the fire in the stove
Then went as it came.
translatged by Ruth Christie & Richard McKane
Bar by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
A Rose
offers itself
a coral wine glass
in
the bars
of time
***sorry but could not find the name of the translator
Leonard Durso 