Thirty-Five Years Old

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Translated to English by Engin Tanis.

CAHİT SIKTI TARANCI

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OLD

VARLIK PUBLICATIONS

General Transcripts : 55 Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı Series : 1 Poetry Series : 1 8 LIBRARY OF GREAT WORKS: 21 The first edition of this book was published in August 1940, 2nd edition in October 1948, 3rd edition in April 1952, 4th edition in February 1954, 5th edition in July 1956, 6th edition in November 1956, 7th edition in December 1957, 8th edition in April 1960, 9th edition in August 1964, 10th edition in October 1967, 11th edition in March 1971, 12th edition in November 1974. 13th edition was published in July 1977. Cover layout : S. MADEN Varlık Publications Inc. Issue: 47 It was typeset at Kurtiş Printing House in Istanbul and printed at Erenler Printing House. March, 1982

Cahit Sıtkı and Thirty-Five Years Old are two names that are intertwined... It is impossible not to remember the other when one remembers one. This book has become one of the most popular and beloved works of contemporary literature. We also believe that it will survive into tomorrow without losing anything of its value. The first edition of Thirty Five Years of Age was published in 1946 as the first book of Varlık Publications. Now, as we are writing the fourteenth edition, unfortunately, the great poet is no longer living among us. But we believe that his memory will not die as long as the Turkish nation endures.

Table of Contents MAY THE DAY NEVER FADE FROM MY WINDOW. DAY SINCE IT'S THE EVENING SEA WRETCHED TABLE GRAVEYARD DELIRIOUS TREE DEATH OF THE ARTIST SERENADE WHAT I FEAR I WANT A HOMETOWN I AM BEWILDERED I AM STUCK DEATH I DEATH ON FEBRUARY 2ND MY SONG EVERY DAY IS MEMORIES THIS IS WHAT YOUTH LOOKS LIKE AFTER DEATH NIGHT SONG IN SEARCH OF GOD A NIGHT OF INSOMNIA PEACE BECAME A SOUVENIR OF THE CHINCHILLA TABLE I HAD A MAP... IMPOSSIBLE FRIENDSHIP BIRDS THE AIR IS CLEAR THIS MORNING AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW, I'M DEAD. WHERE ARE WE, MY DEAR HUMAN BEING? NÜ ROBENSON DON'T GET ME WRONG, SILA. I WAS SO ENGROSSED WHILE WALKING IN THE PLAYGROUND AFTER A DEAD BODY, LISTENING TO A GOOD WEATHER AGENCY TODAY

LET THE FIRST CEMRE LIE IN THE DAYTIME DEATH THREAT TODAY FORGIVE US LAMP IT'S FRIDAY A WHOLE SUMMER'S SPRING WIND HAS BLOWN AWAY, IT'S OVER. ABBAS ASK WAVE DEAD I AM A MAN OF LOVE SOUND OF WATER FATE FIRST LOVE SPRING IS COMING, MY MOTHER'S MOTHER'S DIRTY ROOM IS HELPLESS TO MOVE, WHAT IS IT, GOD, CHILDHOOD HUMAN CRIES ARE FOR ALL OF US A BLISS OF VISITING COMRADES ON A SUMMER NIGHT I'M A HUMAN BEING TOO SPRING DRUNKENNESS IS WORSE THAN ALL LOVES FOR NEDIIM LANDSCAPE I LANDSCAPE II LANDSCAPE

III LANDSCAPE IV LIFE COMPANION THE CONSOLATION IS THAT AS I GROW OLDER, THE DAY COMES A MEMORY OF LOVE

GUEST MAN PROBATE POSTMAN TRAIN DIVERSION INVITATION THE HUMAN CONDITION THAT I'VE ALWAYS EXPERIENCED STRANGE PERSON CEM EVERYONE'S NIGHT INVITATION TO THE ISLAND TOMORROW IS NOT SUNDAY THE DECREE IS ON YOU BLACK LOVE LONELINESS WHAT I DREAM OF IS OUR LONELINESS POEM THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OLD POEM

MAY THE DAY NEVER FADE FROM Neither can I rule the dawning day, nor can anyone who understands; Oh, my death is on my mind; Then this bird, this garden, this light. And the heart says to its God: - I am not worried about the pain you give me; I accept every hardship, as long as the day does not disappear from my window!

LEND AN EAR.. Hear that in the air of our garden, From the blue of the sky, from the green of the branches, A ballad is sung spontaneously; As you listen, you or the sad. Hear, our soul wandering, strand by strand; A ballad that makes the buds on the branches tremble is sung spontaneously; The longer you rest, the longer you live, so beautiful!

DAY O hand that stirs the calm waters, O diver that gives no rest to the fish, O sharp shining sword between the rich and the poor, the ugly and the beautiful. Day, O aching heart, aching tooth, O inexhaustible sorrow in life, Go ask why he has turned against you, the bat that flies from night to night.

SINCE IT'S EVENING Since it's evening, Since I have no home, No home, not a single acquaintance, Let my secret table be opened, Let my raki come in a glass, My friend, my joy and my song! Since it's evening!

SEA This evening the sea, O all our longing, As if it had come to the tongue, With the voice of repentance, Crashing against the rocks, Isn't it enough, says the sea, That you have suffered on land?

MISERABLE He died; what winds came in, Not a bird took off from the window. He died; no one saw the angels; Don't ask how he went away unannounced. They say he went on a long voyage; Has anyone seen the ship, where is the sea? You have gone, our table has been ruined; We are strange for the day that dawns.

CEMETER And the cemetery with its cypresses is silent in response to the city's revelry. It is silent and remembers: The sad misery in this broken mirror is yours, you heedless, you oblivious If people knew what to expect These flowers to bloom one day; Flowers for the tranquility of the dead

THE DELIRIOUS As soon as the tree no longer hears the fall, Every day is a torture; Every night it plunges into a dream, A crown on its head that makes the sky tremble. As the stars wink at it, it thinks it is in its spring and calls for its old nightingales.

DEATH OF THE Gone is the spring wind; the songs are left unfinished. All the gardens are locked; God holds the key. It's time to die for the last time. Not a berry, not a flower; The honeycomb is burning in the sun; All the honey is left in the bee.

SERENAD Who is it that smiles at me from the balcony of greenery? So the day is finally dawning after the nights. Your smile turned my youth from its path; My burning forehead cools with the shadow of your hand. Because you are beautiful, no matter what you are, you entered my story; Not long ago I left my home and followed you, Only a rose of your freshness is worthy of my window; I smell its fragrance in my sleepless nights. Look down into the water, there is your beauty, my youth. You come and listen to me, let our days not be wasted. Let me know my tired head is safe on your chest; Let our cups no longer fill from separate fountains.

WHAT I FEAR The day is gone from the windows; mirrors are completely deserted. No sound came from the gardens; The dome of the sky turned black. The water has been cut off from the fountains; From where will this stone be filled, from where the daffodils bloom O dragon that can't fly a bird? Neither good nor evil; I am afraid of these nights. The day may never rise again from the hills I'm counting on.

I WANT A I want a homeland Let the sky be blue, the branch green, the field yellow; Let it be a land of birds and flowers. I want a homeland Let there be no sorrow in the head, no longing in the heart; Let there be an end to sibling strife. I want a homeland Let there be no difference between rich and poor, between you and me; let everyone have a home in winter. I want a homeland May living be from the heart, like loving; If there is a complaint, let it be from death.

I'M STUNNED I'm stumped on how to take a step; The day is gloomy and the night is gloomy. I am overwhelmed in clouds and mists; I long for the sky blue. It's impossible not to think of you, Lord, not to hope for your help. My feet reached the bottom of the water; At the bottom of the water is oppression. There is no abundance left in the pale and feeble Light of hope. And death has finally become an impatient horse neighing at my door.

DEADMI The blue skies did not keep their promise; The day is getting darker and

darker,

death.

The

evening breeze sings of remorse; Remorse has taken root in me, death. No matter what I do, the day never dawns in my heart; Water flows in its own way, Whichever window I run to, it's night; This life won't go away, death in this flesh. Neither the past is good, nor the future comes to the rescue, The waters have long since taken the boat; Long since the hopes are in you, death.

DEADMII The blue skies did not keep their promise; The day is getting darker and

darker,

death.

The

evening breeze sings of remorse; Remorse has taken root in me, death. No matter what I do, the day never dawns in my heart; Water flows in its own way, Whichever window I run to, it's night; This life won't go away, death in this flesh. Neither the unfaithful past is good, Neither the future comes to the rescue, The waters have long since taken the boat; Long since the hopes are death in you.

FEBRUARY Who knows what kept me awake? That morning I didn't wake up from sleep. I was just experiencing the beauty of a new February day again. I was the snow that fell, the asude festivity, on mountains, plains, cities; according to the dreams of the beloved.

MY SONG FOR A gloom in the city, This invitation in the wind, Freedom in the barrier, When youth is in the air, When white blooms In these blue waters Every day a thousand and one sails, in a sudden decision, I bid farewell to the city, why are you not a passenger on a ship? This gloom in the city, this invitation in the wind, freedom in the barrier, When you're young.

MEMORIES I don't know, memories, what do you want from me? As soon as autumn comes? Why this flapping of wings? What's there to knock on the glass, O old memories Don't think the roses are blooming, It's not the nightingale singing; This wind is a different wind. What do you want from me, I don't know, memories, As soon as autumn comes?

THIS IS WHAT YOUTH IS It is a sound that shakes me every day. It repeats every time the clock strikes: "What have you done with your field, where is your harvest? Will you go into the night emptyhanded? If you think about it, your life is half over. Youth is like that, it comes and goes; And then your arm and wing break; You run from window to window." Oh those days I didn't know the value of, The bunch of roses I threw away without smelling them, That fountain whose water I used as a fountain, The wind I didn't sail when it blew Floods see, the waters tend to the west, The nightingale's voice has changed in the tree, The shadows are settling on my window; Your era begins, O

THIS IS WHAT YOUTH IS memories.

AFTER DEATH We died, hoping for something from death. A spell broken in a great void How could he not remember that ballad? A piece of sky, a bundle of branches, a feather of a bird, Living was something we were used to. Now there is no news from that world; there is no one who calls us or asks us. Our night is so dark, Our window is either there or not; There is no trace of our axle in the stream.

NIGHT SONG Day in the world is torture to my heart; I think the feast is when the day ends on the horizon. As if a magician's hand melted the impassable snowy mountains of the day. The night of spring that I wait for all day is the hope of the stars in the sky. The roads, the roads are finally equal to me, when I go endlessly empty. Whether I laugh or cry It is when I alone hear my voice. Day in the world is torture for my heart; I think the feast is when the day ends on the horizon.

IN SEARCH OF I know that whatever I do is a mistake, every step I take is wrong; My hands are on the apple branch; Adam and Eve are my ancestors. It is clear that there is neither one nor two; My sin is more than my head. O Lord, you know that only you are close to me. Look at my teary eyes, I don't know how to lie, My everything is naked in the sun; Remorse is hell for me. I am neither a star by night, nor a butterfly by day. I need your face without pretense like me, O Lord, your face. My supplication is not in vain, no one knows my condition,

IN SEARCH OF Friend or foe unrecognizable, Faces playing in the water. The umman does not end with going; The waters are raging, the boat is a hole. Oh mountains, oh this smoke!

The deer has lost its way. There is no day without worries; Nights are Karbala. I think every falling star The wail from my chest does not hold ointment on the wound; My arm and wing are broken. My youth is gone. Ah. Then I realized why. I, too, long for nothing but you, It is not worth shedding tears, O great God, help the night that envelops your servant.

A NIGHT OF INSOMNIA One sleepless night of a lonely life, As the mirrors questioned me in a terrific interrogation. Suddenly a nightingale's voice that made my heart tremble, struck the water like the moon rising behind the mountain. Following the moonlight, ships came from offshore, I ran to the familiar waving handkerchiefs; from place to place, from the darkness gushing like lush grasses, Those beautiful days that I thought had dried up their roots.

WHAT I If I say that it is an April evening, the most refreshing of the winds blows from you, I watch the bluest of the seas in you, I wander the deepest of the forests in you, I pluck the most unfading of the flowers from you, I plow the most fertile of the soils in you, I taste the whole of the nuts in you. If I say that for me, you are as necessary as air, as blessed as bread, as precious as water; you are a blessing, you are a blessing! If I say... Believe me, darling, believe me, You are a feast in my house, spring in my garden; And the oldest wine on my table. I live in you, You reign over me. Let me sing your beauty, With the winds, the rivers, the birds. One day after another, If you don't recognize my voice,

WHAT I The sound of winds, rivers, birds,

Just know I'm dead. But again, don't worry, be at peace; I'll make the insects memorize your beauty in the tomb, And why then The day you hear my voice again in the firmament, remember it is the day of judgment I've been wandering around looking for you.

PEACE IS A MEMORY You were going to come down like this, September? Do you realize that, What another autumn you gave our garden. What hasn't been scattered from these leaves, before! What happened this time happened to us humans. We hadn't had our fill of the last berries of summer: It was the birds, the flowers that nourished our joy. The day was calm, the night starry, it's good to live! Last summer was a peaceful memory with its season.

CHINCHILLA Sit so that the chair remembers that you are a chair. The table also forgets its tale, if you put your hand on it. My gaze won't part, the pitcher will be empty. My chalice is what you call my chalice. It's not a goblet unless you touch it with your lips. Appetizers don't know their colors, their flavors, unless you touch them with your fork. But do you realize...

I HAD A MAP... I had a map with land and sea and colorful country, a memory of my school. Its people were merry, its chimneys smoked sweetly, What a beautiful world I had, I don't recognize it. Land and sea and colorful country. Weep, weep, our map is covered in blood. Cain's blood is unstoppable; A dark wahdat is being brought to our world; It brings gratitude to all of us, to all of us. Weep, weep, our map is covered in blood.

IMPOSSIBLE Not brother, the branch is not green, the sky is not blue, if you know! What world am I in and what world are you in? Do you think you can imagine the things I think? I don't think so! Our share of stars and wind is not equal; You go in your night, I go in mine; Give it up brother, our ships are different!

BIRDS Birds come and land on my window, Birds fly away from my window, This sound of wings, this turmoil, Sometimes it's good news, sometimes it's bad news. By the color of their feathers I know which bird comes from which climate; Ask the birds about my love, my beloved; Birds know the day I will die.

THE AIR IS CLEAR THIS The air is clear this morning; Everything is like crystal this morning. The sky is blue this morning, So that we can think of good things.

The

trees

have

turned green, marveling at the clouds. The golden joy of the first day of their flight shines in the sound of their wings. The snowy mountains are on a campaign, In the murmur of the water in the valley. I am the rose, I am the carnation, I am the jasmine, Flowers with colorful scents, In the gardens of houses content with their owners. Tall human shadows move On sidewalks that have drunk the sun. It's clear from the way they step, what's going through them. All men young men, All

THE AIR IS CLEAR THIS women young girls, Prosperity for the poor, Health for the sick. If asked, I would say the playground, the cemetery on the opposite slope.

The air is clear this morning, Everything is crystal clear this morning.

AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW, The next thing I know, I'm dead! The world is extinguished by my bedside; I can't get it out of my sight What a wanderlust I've fallen into! I wish I had it in my palms! No one asks about my condition. Don't ask what I've been through. What I've said goodbye to; I can't afford insects

WHERE ARE WE, MY The night is mine, the moon is yours. There is a garden of our love, we wander through the seasons, it never ends. Who says the rose withers with time? Does the nightingale ever get tired of singing? You're a singer, I'm a young man. What wisdom is this, O Lord, how beautiful! Surely we are not on earth; where are we really, my beloved?

HUMAN It is true that I come from Adam and Eve; I was once struck by an apple branch I still remember that deluge of rain; I'm thankful to be on Noah's raft. If I have to die one day, I would not trade the good and bad days I have lived for any fairy tale of paradise.

NÜ A woman in my sleepless night! In the moonlight of her words, her body snowwhite; her hair a treasure of gold. Neither does he know of my fire, Neither does he know that he is naked; His presence and his absence Beautiful and blissful without hearing!

ROBENSON Robenson, my clever Robenson, how I envy you! If you show me the way to Adana; I want to rest my head, I'll be the ship, you be the captain; We'll set sail one morning. The sea will be our shadow in the sun, The voyage! We're on our island. I wish you could be my interpreter, introduce me to the fish, For me to make you say wild birds and flowers are ours. I know how to climb a tree, I know what fruit is; We can also break stones, light a fire, cook a meal. Robenson knows better, Robenson, if Adan hasn't sunk yet, Take me there, before the sea road closes!

VISITING DAY AT THE Visiting day at the hospital, familiar faces appear at the

ward

door, Mother's rush, husband's excitement, friend's excitement; Flowers and candy boxes. Whichever patient's face you illuminate, Peace be upon you. A ray of light bringing good tidings from outside! You bring joy to us all.

DON'T GET ME WRONG My garden is made of trees and flowers. My house is made of stone. I love trees, stones and flowers like my mother and sister. I have memories of them all, some bitter, some sweet. Before this tree became a cypress, Before my inscription is written on this stone, Before this flower is brought to my grave as a wreath, Tell them about me, birds, Don't let them get me wrong.

SILA The day is over, My hometown starts with the evening coolness. The village where I was born is in sight; The sky that gets closer and closer with its stable stars, My horse galloped with joy; I am flying to my homeland. There will be the kites I flew in my childhood Bird white clouds hanging on the chimneys; Maybe it is a prayer cloth in the wind. My mother, whose face I long for! I guess there are people waiting for me.

STROLLING IN THE PLAYGROUND Why do I look for my hoop when I know it's broken? My toys won't work if I build them: The hand child sleeps in my cradle. Oh to start life again; childhood, love and art!

I WAS SO I am so engrossed this afternoon, the sky is the neighboring plot. I'm a child oblivious to the world; I'm looking for my lost pogo pins. Run, children, run, neighbor girls, the stars don't fit in my palms.

AFTER A DEAD BODY I laugh at those who bring flowers to my grave; these people are heedless people; They do not know that I have nothing to do with this grave; I am in those flowers, I am these flowers.

GOOD WEATHER The weather's nice today, I can't get enough of it. I got a letter from my mom, I feel like I'm back home. Thank God I'm full; If I reach out my hand, the coffee cup is on my lips. Birds don't run away from me; I caress the blue skies on a dove's wing. The greenness of the trees fills me with the chirping of sparrows. The silk shadow of the clouds rustles on the children's faces. I spin in a circle with the children without picking up a hoop. Ask the sun that enlightens my thoughts, this April wind also bears witness, I know all men as brothers, I pray for the health of the whole. If I die, Before there is no time to

GOOD WEATHER make peace, Remember me; Peace be upon me to the world.

Every breath in and out.

WHILE THE The sycamore under whose shade we once rested, The old neighborhood, the foundation fountain, the neglected mosque, Don't think that I am strange to you, Past times silent in the sadness of a dove! Forgive me if I'm distracted, I'm sorry if this is not to my heart.

FIRST The snow has melted, the ice has broken; The waters have been filled like birds, As soon as the first cemre fell on the earth. A thousand paths were opened in the bosom of the earth, Flowing and flowing, the waters were glorious, From the mountain honeys to the seas.

LIE What if the old cemetery has become a park? It's a lie, no years have passed; You're already fourteen, I'm twenty-one; If you're smooth, if I'm in love, you should get used to it. It's spring, when is our wedding? Master Ubeydullah isn't dead yet.

LET IT BE DAY Tell me the truth, sea, You will no doubt have an intention, Winter and summer to hit this shore. For the heads of your fish What's the matter with you? From this beautiful, this beautiful earth? For which we have sacrificed so much; What fires we have passed through! All these years, all these centuries, the secret in his voice has not faded, O sea! What do you mean? Stop talking in enigmas, spill the beans, and our fortune will be enlightened! Let it be daytime! We'll see how we are.

DANGER OF Speed through the crowded street; Drivers are not to be trusted. Quickly give the handle to your street; The dusk is unreliable. Go ahead and knock on the door, A stone may fall from the neighboring wall. Death doesn't say I'm coming Accidents and trouble are one step at a time If a person dies, he dies in the evening, whether at home or in the evening.

TODAY Today is not a fairy tale, it is more beautiful than a fairy tale, it is real; Today is the day I am on earth! I'm standing; Hand in the asphalt, Aligned with the acacia, Shoulder to shoulder with the people, In the same fate as the wolf and the bird, No different from the rose and the tulip, Your life in its mortality; Troubled like everyone else, As hopeful as anyone; After all, he's content to live. Look how I'm stepping, As if drinking raki,

as

kissing lover,

if my

as

if

TODAY drunk. Who can tell me, Are the clouds passing over my head, am I going under the clouds?

FORGIVE US, LAMP We hugged like that, We are so far gone that we have forgotten to turn off the lamp and draw the curtains. Turns out it's morning; Day watches us through the window. It's time to say goodbye to the dear night: We must follow the path of the day. Forgive us, lamp, If we've dragged you this far, forgive our drunkenness at night. If you return to your hometown in time; We'll keep our daily path. Let's see you off. I entrust our night to you.

TODAY Today is Friday; I remember my grandmother, and therefore my childhood, Long may those days be long! The days when I kissed a piece of bread that fell on the ground and brought it to my head! As I believed then, If there really is an afterlife, today is Friday there too, On her head, white as clouds, my grandmother is praying, on her prayer rug, untouched by the hands of the unnamed; brought from Mecca. May he not forget me in his prayer; remembering that I am a sinner.

A WHOLE Fâtiha to the martyred sailor, A prayer of peace to the world, Salute to the fish, Serenade to the mermaids, Gratitude and thanksgiving to the sun, A whole summer, Our shadow in the Gulf of Edremit.

SPRING Finally storks appeared on the rooftops, clacking their long beaks. The cranes we thought unfaithful have returned; From the unknown land they left last year. Look how beautiful the blossoming trees are; Come let us have the joy of the sparrows! Come, let's go out into the countryside with you! The sound of running water We'll go to the end of the greenery, Until we forget what we are, We can talk about the weather if you like, Making love with our lonely steps. The days have really started to lengthen; the sun clearly doesn't want to set. Blowing her skirt in the breeze The spring wind I've been thinking about all winter.

FLY FLY The stork flew away, the table flew away, the table flew away, the Semahat flew away, the Semahat flew away... ? What do you guys think flew away? My youth flew away.

PAYDOS No more madness from now on; the mirrors have begun to speak harshly. I ran after love as soon as I caught up; This drink, this gambling has exhausted me. Why should I hide my recklessness? I've sunk my youth with my own hand; The most beautiful ship I'll ever sail on! The waves don't give back what they take. Taverns, morning coffee houses, All friends, poets, painters, vagabonds, If I am no longer at the revelry at night, Do not think there is betrayal on my part. Age is advancing... It's past us now; When one should have a home and a home, When the day comes, aren't we the ones who die? Don't let our funeral lie on the ground, friends!

ABBAS Come on Abbas, it's time; you said it was evening, it's evening. Set up our locksmith's table; Let this heartache go away. Let it be in the shade of that tree; Right on the edge of the pool. Let the moon come out tonight; Let it appear to my heart. Crack the whip on the magic prayer rug, Show your mastery over distance and time. You'll leave it in the dust, Go away, That's what Cahit ordered, Bring the first lover from Beşiktaş; I want to live my youth all over again.

LO When the female roses of spring bloom, another wind blows in the gardens. Listen to the nightingales singing frantically; why you have fallen into this trouble. Say: - Love is the heart that makes glad; the heart that makes miserable, ruined. Love makes you sing the most burning ballads on the nights when the moon enters the clouds.

WAVE DEAD Yesterday a beautiful woman passed near my grave. I watched your legs, the treasure of the day, that turned my night upside down. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, I got up to give her her handkerchief when she dropped it; I forgot I was dead.

I AM A MAN OF I think of the seas I've sailed, Isn't this the last ship I'll ever sail, No, the coffin on the shoulders of its owner If I needed consolation like everyone else, I would say: "Surely I will have a weeper; I will recite Yasin in the nights of Ramadan, And the one who brings violets to my grave in the spring." But all this is not necessarily so, I won't worry again, I won't offend anyone again. I am a man of love, I came to love people, To love with my heart, with my hand, with my head; without calculation, without return, Without any separation, If I go one day, I will go so lovingly that even if it is from the dark shores, I will greet the ships that will pass by me; Sunny ships;

I AM A MAN OF Singing ships; As if I were in them myself!

WATER How can I be angry that you're keeping me awake, Water to the mill! Your voice is so beautiful, I'd like to hear it even after I'm dead.

FATE According to the call to prayer, in the minaret of Camiikebir, even though it is not Friday, there is surely a dead person in the neighborhood. Here it is! This is the funeral we will be; He passes down the street solemn and simple, On shoulders like waves.

FIRST No matter how much the catastrophe damns our hearts, we remember it from time to time, Which belle gave us a taste of first love; We live with a memory. Oh that summer night, that moonlight, that pool! The generous lover who threw roses from his balcony! It's obvious that we're mad with your love, climbing the vine. Perhaps not to be repeated today at this age, The innocent vows of the first night of love, But where is the pleasure of the first kiss? I don't know bliss except that pleasure.

SPRING IS The snow on the roofs, the ice on the eaves, is too tight for the boiling water. Do you know about it? Endless from the gutters Spring is coming with the sound of running water. Hear the wind blowing from the south; you will see what will happen tomorrow. Spring is coming in the eagerness of the baby birds fluttering in the nest. Patience, neighbor girl, the day is near; You'll see your chest suddenly appear. Spring is coming in the playful tune of the ballad you chirp.

MOTHER One day when I come to my homeland, if you sense something in me, don't be surprised, my mother. I'll lay my head on your knees and weep long for all men.

FORTIETH I am at the door of the fortieth room; everything is behind this door. I am worried whether to open or not; My mind is between two worlds. Who knows what's going on inside! In which hands is my human fortune? Whether it's me or that prince in the fairy tale; My heart is in love with a beauty.

MOVEME I don't like museums, I don't like cemeteries, I don't like the bazaar, I'm where the action is. I must be on the road! Every step I take is a new victory. Should the ferry or the train leave? As soon as I get in. Blow, wind, blow! Spin the windmill! Sails sail in the wind; If spring comes, it comes with the wind. A woman is beautiful when she dances, when the flag waves, When the sea foams, when man lives in passion.

HELPLE I couldn't cast a line even once, even though I fell in the chick's place. My flaky fish remained in my imagination; Summer passed, I couldn't taste the bream. Neither a smiling face nor a sweet tongue: This coast left me helpless; I couldn't tell anyone, including my wife, my brother, my mother and father.

WHY IS THAT, O Spring is spring in every garden we open; it is true. It is true that whichever branch we touch, there is food; true. It is true that we are in the most beautiful world; it is as if the devil has feathers in its mountains. But why, O Lord, is this thirst of ours, By the fountain whose water is gushing.

CHILDHOO I counted money to grandpa Affan, he sold me my childhood. I have neither age nor name anymore; I don't know who I am. Let nothing be asked of me; I know nothing of what is going on. This spring weather, this garden; The water is gurgling in the pool. My kite is higher than the clouds, my jumpers are sparkling. How beautiful my circle is spinning; If it never ends, my rooster candy!

HUMAN WHIMPERS With the night there is a stillness in the water; The fish are asleep like the moss. The wind has stopped rustling in the branches; All the birds are in their nests now. The flower is left alone with its scent, Now both elephant and insect are safe. O Lord, the star in the sky, the grave on the ground, everything is at peace with its fortune. It is the sobs of human beings that make these calm darknesses tremble.

ABOUT ALL Do you think you are troubled only by yourself, whose shadow is wandering on the earth? The stone would not want moss to grow on it; every flower withers when its fragrance fades. The tree worries its leaves in the wind; Every bird more or less laments the death of its young; The mosquito, too, is not content; Its buzzing is a complaint.

SUMMER How many stars you have, too many to count The summer night whose breeze makes the soul come alive! It will be a prayer of thanksgiving as much as the scent of geranium in the pot as the songs of the bird of prey on the branch. I believe, beautiful night, I believe. Inhaling something like worship.

GUEST It's enough if you're my guest for one night, The scent of lavender fills my room; The water in the jug gets cold with joy. The moon laughs and laughs in the window. If you undress against the moon to let Eve see the fairest of her daughters! Let me caress, kiss, smell every part of your body that shivers. As we make love like breathing, I think of my child to be born; I sing poems of bliss, The night you were a guest in my room.

COMRADES I sleep and get up with my horse, our share of the day is the same. I laugh with my dog. A rabbit in a field of crops. By the stove with my cat in winter. Our dreams are open to each other We exchange greetings from garden to garden Closer to me than my brothers, On a spring day in a mosque courtyard, The pigeons in front of which I spread feed. The elephants and caterpillars on Noah's raft are always the companions of my day of misery.

A BLISS Not a word was spoken, What a sign we gave each other, But the truth is that we made love until the ferry departed, Just by meeting each other's eyes. I remember it like a bliss, the smell of jasmine is from him, his inhalation is from me, One summer evening, on the Kandilli pier!

I AM A HUMAN No wonder I'm one man in pajamas, another in a dress, Even shaving changes me, even shoe polish. What about the weather, the time of day; What about the friend whose coffee I drink? Don't they all have a right to me, From the passing woman's smile to the letter in my hand? Isn't it necessary to make nice to the relative in Üsküdar, whom I visit once a month. I'm a human being, after all.

SPRING Isn't it an April breeze like the smile of my first lover? In spite of chains and handcuffs, it's time to spread my wings; Goodbye sidewalks. Let those who wear it think of the tight dress; Measured word, calculated step. I am free from being a bird in a cage; I fly like a reigning sovereign, The plum tree, the day she became a bride. I admire the chimneys of this city. How deeply into the sky, large and small, all in unison, They sing a ballad so quiet! May your smoke last forever, beautiful chimney! The sparrow whose nest is in the eaves, The sparrow whose young is entrusted to the branches, Then the dove on the mosques. I pass by the minarets; the sky neighborhood of Istanbul.

SPRING I am a milky white seagull offshore, I guide the ships, ships laden with wheat and medicine.

One wingbeat and I'm in the clouds; One glide and the waves are my homeland!

WORSE THAN ALL Some people are wandering, wasting their lives away. Some are worried about their livelihood, unaware of comfort. In the pursuit of impossible things, some will backfire. Some are widows, some orphans, destiny overwhelms. Some are out of their minds; they ask for mercy, I suffer from love, worse than all.

ABOUT It is the tulip time of the season, I chose one evening from Sâdâbat, Nedim divan on my armchair. Don't ask what's left of that life? Neither wine that dispels gloom, nor mesti-naz... Sâdâbat is ruined. It's not Sâdâbat, it's Kâğıthane; It's where the gypsy tells fortunes; The tulip era is but a legend. Big Nedim? What happened to those days? So many verses of flavor on the tongue He doesn't say where your grave is.

LOVED Go out, my eyes are on the road; Neither the postman stops by my neighborhood, nor the cranes bring greetings; You've turned out to be unfaithful Beşiktaşlım If it means enduring, I endure, without showing it to anyone. I've kept a job for better or worse; The bitter and the sweet are always the same. Ankara or Çemişkezek; As long as I am far from you. Wherever one lives, one has to die one day. You are my first love, my first love; I wouldn't trade you for the world, I'm so high on joy, the nights you enter my dreams. Even if it's the morning of Eid, what a day born without

LOVED you!

LANDSCAP You call the sky a tree in your folk songs, the sky to the tree, Nothing has changed when you look out the window. What birds confuse their branches, Nor will it be possible to pluck the stars. No greenery is lost; The blueness of this dome continues.

LANDSCAP Let children not throw stones, Let ships not pass over it, Let the fish not move, Let the wind not blow, Let it be an hour of calm; See the beauty of the sea! Especially if there's a moonlight, You'll come to ride on it.

LANDSCAP How often storks clack their beaks; You can't hear another reed on spring nights, Storks remind me of my loneliness; You can't sleep on spring nights because of the moonlight. On nights like these, we need to be a couple, to make love! Loving storks nest in chimneys. Clacking their beaks, curtain by curtain, they will make love as long as the moonlight lasts.

LANDSCAP Don't light the lamp just because it's evening; I like the shadow like this. Just sing your ballad, the sound is clearer in the dark. As long as you sing in the dark, the garden that flows from your voice to the sky is the solace of depressed souls, one by one, as it blooms its tranquil roses.

LIFE What am I doing on this mountain top? I couldn't warm up to the eagles, it is true to say that I have had my fill of clouds. It is not easy to be Moses. The proximity of the sea is another problem, Let's say you go fishing for three or five days; Then you have to wait for the ferries. It seems Napoleon suffered a lot. What can I do in such a lonely place? What good is the most beautiful scenery if it's not a companion? Even if it's paradise, you can't live there.

THE - Dedicated to the soul of Kemal Uluser What is there to fear? It's enough to be a piece of text. Saying that our destiny has departed from here, as an expatriate journey, You say goodbye to your friends and say, "Remember me. Remember me; You promise to send a letter, if you can write it. Mountain does not meet mountain, man meets man! You will be consoled, we will be consoled. In the case of death, hope is reserved for human beings.

AS I GROW OLDER The older I get, the more I understand O beautiful day, what a blessing it is! There is no point in worrying in vain, I understand, It is necessary to appreciate every blooming rose; To be grateful for the song of every nightingale on the branch! I live with love now, even if it means burning.

DAYS MAY There comes a day when neither the sky is worth money, nor the seaside, nor the vineyards and gardens. There comes a day when neither girl, nor raki, nor poetry, Nothing can envelop and deceive a man; From every fountain, the cup in his hand returns empty. There comes a day when it is easy to go mad.

A MEMORY OF On transparent summer evenings, reserved only for lovers of that age, Under the seasoned, veteran pines, where we often met on the sly. What was that wind blowing? What were you, my beauty, what a belle you were! If you wanted to with a smile, you would have freed the world from my eyes. The curve drawn by my loving arm, Every time I wrapped it around your slender waist, I thought it was twin with the cavsikuzahs, Twin from the hand of God.

GUEST MAN Once you are a guest; you will leave whether you want to or not. Even if this life has its share of misery, what can you do if you don't bear it with a smiling face. No one knows what lies beyond; No one knows what the opposite shore is. Know the value of the day; Do not let the bee go without honey. A rose can bloom in every breath; Be ecstatic with inhalation if you wish. Especially in the matter of love, especially in the matter of goodness, be generous like nature in spring.

TEREKE It's nothing if I die; whatever happens happens to my weird stuff. Do you think there will be a benefactor who will return my letters? What about my books, what about my poetry notebook? If it falls into the hands of a grocer, who knows who lies on this mattress, what dreams this quilt covers! It cannot look so elegant on the back of the hand, My dress and coat are custom-made; My shoes are not for every foot; This tie is beautiful as long as I tie it; No one can wear this hat like this.

POSTAL You're ringing for nothing, Postman, You knock in vain. It's no longer mine, Letters with my name and address on them. Go make others happy, Go and make others miserable, you have no power over me. If I have a love today it's for the flowers in my garden, not for people, You knock in vain, Postman, You are playing in vain.

TRAI Where is the beautiful train, the strange train? Your whistle sounds bitter, what a memory it brings. I don't wave a handkerchief, I am more or less familiar with every traveler. Come on, may your path be clear; may the bridges you cross be strong and the tunnels be bright.

SURPRISE There's Birsen, that coquettish girl; Her hair falling in her face, We locked eyes, a Mübeccel! She laughed, but it was Semiha! I recognized her when she spoke, Türkân! She sat down and I realized it

was

Nazmiye.

She

became Müjgân as I kissed her! She undressed and I saw it wasn't her. Who are you really, beautiful?

INVIT Never mind, said the dead in my sleep, Never mind, my brother, the affairs of the world, Is it worth your joy, your sorrow; The things we laugh at when we remember them. Don't you want to hear the nightingale's voice deeper in the rose garden; To make it eternal, the night of vuslat; To count the hair of that beloved, strand by strand. Come, said the dead in my sleep Whatever you dream of, it is possible to meet. Beyond water, beyond fire, beyond milk There is something more beautiful than life!

THAT I'VE ALWAYS This shadowy place on Sunday, this city, this train sound, this blue sky I know, filtering through green branches. The cozy armchair I'm sitting in, the white cloth of the table, My cigarette, my coffee, my newspaper, The curve of my hand, To repel the flies; The clock ticking on my wrist And I yawn every now and then, that I'm always alive.

HUMAN The day the hazel journey appears to me, I think I will find three or five friends to carry my coffin; a girl to weep for me. But in time friends forget; another will console the beloved. I don't want that dreadful day to come; no one will burn me as much as my mother.

STRANGE One evening I cried for the first time, at the window of my single room. Where's the house? Where are the kids? What have I gained in the tavern and brothel of this life? My bed is cold like this every night. Where is bliss in this life?

CEM Obviously this goblet is an heirloom from you, O Cem; It gleams strangely in our flesh, O Cem, But it does not give you the joy it gives you; Where are the times when you used to brew, O Cem?

EVERYONE'S Hold yourself, don't show it, brother, Let me not see your tears, governor, What a beautiful typewriter you are, Leave me alone, little salesman, What can I do for you? My troubles are endless! There's so much darkness around. To each his own night.

INVITATION Ask me, my beauty, don't upset yourself. I'm a poet, Of course I know When this rain will stop; When the weather will clear; What time is the ferry to the island. How lovers make love in the pines. The taste, the flavor of that love. Give me a smile, the rain will stop soon. Come on, the ferry's waiting for us: This tram goes to the bridge.

TOMORROW IS NOT Am I so in love, or are you really so languorous? I guess making love is great; Keep your arms around my neck. Tomorrow's not Sunday, bitch; There's work, you appreciate that. I wish this night would never end. To make love more and more and more.

YOU ARE THE O dilber, who is far from Nedim's eyes, You are that dilber who is so beautiful. It is like the spring seen in a dream, You are the one whose nightingales are enchanted. Hair falls aside, the world falls aside; Those who dive into those eyes fall into the ocean. It is for the people to convey my state; I have taken the wound, the remedy is yours. Emreyle, let me run a horse in the seas; Semi, let me sail a steamer in the fields; Let me be a bird, let me flap my wings in the skies; Emreyle, my beauty, the decree is yours

KARASEVDA Once you fall in love; it's a picture of you burning in fires. The lover is blind like Majnun; He does not know what season it is in the world. The world aside, that dream aside; I am a torch for him. Is the window the place where I cry when a lifetime is spinning beneath me? For the one who retires to a corner, For the one who stops eating and drinking, For the one who knows sleep is forbidden without you, Separation is another name for death

ABOUT May you not be without a companion, may you not lament that you are alone. The sky is blue above you; equal to a mother's tenderness; Three steps to the sea; He is a friend, neither his anger nor his stillness is without reason. If you have a problem, you can confide it to the trees; The tree gives leaves, but no secrets to the wind. And winter summer There's never a bird on the branch. Smoke on the mountainside. You'll know what loneliness is when you die.

WHAT I DREAMED The sky was smiling blue blue, through the green green branches. The golden voice suddenly asked: "What about the old love wound!" "It's over, I said, the darkness is over; the ordeal ended with Vuslat; With you, this waterfall of peace begins a new avalanche of light. The season spring was a continuous summer; The wind was in the caressing phase; The clouds above are white, The clouds in their wedding dress. Finally, from the day we lay our blissful heads on a pillow, The pleasure that love gives to life Why then do we live a lifetime, oblivious of the day's futile distractions, The sky is still blue and smiling, Among

WHAT I DREAMED the green and green branches.

OUR ALONE God Almighty behind the heavens, Beys and pashas in their sultanate, Many in their misery, Majnun and Layla in their vuslat, Who is not alone in life, And the dead under the cypresses?

POE Girlish poetry in girlish beauty; The face of a lover, a friend and a mother, It is the night that still enchants me I think it is both earth and sky. I do not complain of Layla, though she has caused me so much trouble. How can he give up this love? Once we've decided on this dream.

THIRTY-FIVE Thirty-five years old! That's halfway there. We are in the middle of life like Dante. The young man is the gem of our age, Begging and pleading are futile today, He'll go away regardless of his age. Did it snow on my temples? Is this striped face mine, God? What about the dark circles under the eyes? Why do you look so hostile, mirrors I've known as friends for years? How one changes with time! Whichever picture I look at, it's not me. Where are those days, that enthusiasm, that excitement? This smiling man is not me; it is a lie that I am carefree. Our first love from vague things; Even the memory of it seems foreign. Friends with whom we started life together have parted ways one by one; Our loneliness is increasing. The sky has another color!

THIRTY-FIVE I realized too late that the stone is hard. Water drowns, fire burns!

When one reaches this age, one realizes that every day is a trouble. Quince yellow pomegranate red autumn! Every year I embrace it a little more. Why are the birds circling in the air? Where did this funeral come from? Who died? How many gardens have I seen destroyed? Death is upon everyone. You slept and didn't wake up. Who knows where, how, at what age? You will have a reign for a prayer, like a throne on that prayer stone.