If the ones who will see us together tomorrow,
Ask you “who was the one you were together with yesterday?”
Don’t tell them about me in detail,
Briefly say “the one who is the rest of my life…”
translated by Nejla Karabulut
Cemal Sureya
another poem untitled by Cemal Süreya
Whenever we threw a smoke into the water
It kept burning til the morning
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
“I’m dying, God” by Cemal Süreya
I’m dying, God.
This has happened too.
Every death is an early death,
I know.
What’s more, this life you are taking
Isn’t bad. . .
No more said.
translated by Murat Nemet*Nejat
“After Twelve P.M.” by Cemal Süreya
After twelve P.M.
all drinks
are wine.
teanslated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Muezzin by Cemal Süreya
You hopped into bed,
But your hymen is on the table.
Never mind, Allah be praised.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
Peel an orange and feed its slices to me.
I have a minaret, get hold of its charms,
Be my muezzin,
While the rain
Is pouring out in the street
And folks are keeping indoors
For their prayers.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Photograph by Cemal Süreya
Three people at the station:
The man is sad
Sad like sad songs
The woman is beautiful
Beautiful like beautiful memories
The child
Sad like beautiful memories
Beautiful like sad songs
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
“Life is short” by Cemal Süreya
Life is short
Birds are flying.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Drizzle by Cemal Süreya
The stars were on the sidewalk
As if at the Prophet’s coming
Because it had drizzled the night before
Dizzy like a cloud, I left her house
Skipping, skipping on the stars
Pleased as punch in the moonlight
Playing hopscotch
As at the Prophet’s coming
Because it had drizzled the night before.
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Yellow Blight by Cemal Süreya
My breath is a red bird
In the auburn sky of your hair
When I embrace you
Your legs grow long beyond words
My breath becomes a red horse
I can tell from my burning cheeks
We are destitute our nights are short
Let’s make love at full tilt
translated by Talat S. Halman
untitled poem by Cemal Süreya
Whereas a glass of water was enough to wet your hair,
A slice of bread, two olives to fill our stomachs
If I kissed you once, the second felt itself neglected,
If I kissed you twice, the third bent its neck in sadness. . .
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
Leonard Durso 