I see you
even when
I don’t see you
eyes open closed
awake asleep
you
always
there
love poem
and once more because I like this one so much: Am I In Love? by Orhan Veli Kanık
Was I going to have thoughts also?
Was I going to be an insomniac like this?
Was I going to be quiet like this?
To stop caring for the tossed salad I loved so much?
Was I going to turn into this?
translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
another poem about waiting from the Book of Songs: When the Gourd Has Dried Leaves
When the gourd has dried leaves,
you can wade the deep river.
Keep your clothes on if the water’s deep;
hitch up your dress when it’s shallow.
The river is rising,
pheasants are chirping.
The water is just half a wheel deep,
and the hen is singing to the cock.
Wild geese are trilling,
the rising sun starts dawn.
If you want to marry me,
come before the river is frozen.
The ferryman is gesturing,
other people are going, but not me,
other people are going, but not me.
I’m waiting for you.
translated by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping
Love Me by Maria Wine
Love me
but do not come too near
leave room for love
to laugh at its happiness
always let some of my blond hair
be free
translated by Nadia Christensen
At One Glance by Mihri Hatun
At one glance
I loved you
With a thousand hearts
They can hold against me
No sin except my love for you
Come to me
Don’t go away
Let the zealots think
Loving is sinful
Never mind
Let me burn in the hellfire
Of that sin
translated by Talat S. Halman
Hops by Boris Pasternak
Beneath the willow wound round with ivy
we take cover from the worst
of the storm, with a greatcoat round
our shoulders and my hands around your waist.
I’ve got it wrong. That isn’t ivy
entwined in the bushes round
the wood, but hops. You intoxicate me!
Let’s spread the greatcoat on the ground.
translated by Jon Stallworthy & Peter France
At The Dark Hour by Paul Dehn
Our love was conceived in silence and must live silently.
This only our sorrow, and this until the end.
Listen, did we not lie all of one evening,
Your heart under my hand.
And no word spoken, no, not even the sighing
Of pain made comfortable, not the heart’s beat
Nor sound of urgency, but a fire dying
And the cold sheet?
The sailor goes home singing; the lamplit lovers
Make private movements in a public place.
Boys whistle under windows, and are answered;
But we must hold our peace.
Days, too, broke silently. Before the blackbird,
Before the trouble of traffic and the mist unrolled,
I shall remember at the dark hour turning to you
For comfort in the cold.
big dog by Anselm Hollo
i bring you
this head,
full of breath-
taking beautiful
images of yourself
& put it in
your lap.
now i breathe
more quietly.
now you pat me.
now i sigh.
in a moment or two
i’ll get up and
be a man again.
Heartache by Cezmi Ersöz
Here we are alone again me and this pain within
again just you and I
put your hand in mine
shh! whatever you do don’t make me whine.
Oh my heartache deep within
put your hand in mine
let’s you and I find a way
not breathless in panic or shouting today
out of this deep dark forest echoing with howls. . .
My pain within, my heartache deep inside, oh you my love
here we are alone again
put your hand in mine
shh! whatever you do don’t make me whine. . .
translated by Jean Carpenter Efe
After the Rain by Cevat Çapan
This time
I brought with me
the chill of the streets
in which we once walked.
Your breath and gaze will be filled with
shadows of the eaves falling upon us
and the smell of sweet basil outside the windows
if you hold my hand.
At this crossroads
where everything is lost
and found again
when we are face to face with all that crowd
you will realize
the further
time takes you away from me
the closer
it draws me to you.
translated by Zeynep Bağcı & Suat Karantay
Leonard Durso 