Nazim Hikmet

GIDERAYAK

Giderayak  islerim var bitirilecek,

                                                 giderayak.

Ceylani kurtardim avcinin elinden

ama daha baygin yatar ayilamadi.

Kopardim portakali dalindan

ama kabugu soyulmadi.

Oldum yildizlarla hasir nesir

ama sayisi bir tamam sayilmadi.

kuyudan cektim suyu

ama bardaklara konulamadi

Guller dizildi tepsiye

ama tasdan fincan oyulmadi

Sevdalara doyulmadi

Giderayak islerim var bitirilecek,

                                                 giderayak.

***

Departing

Before departing,  I have things to complete,

                                                   before departing.

I saved the deer  from a hunter,

still lay on the ground unconscience. 

I pick the orange from  the branch

still not pill off the skin.

I have acquainted with the stars

still not accounted their numbers.

I draw water from the well

still not poured the glasses.

Roses lined up on the plate

still not carved cup from the stone.

I am not fulfil with the love

before departing,  I have things to complete,

                                                 before departing.

Translation: Selim M. Ozalp

Bedri Rahmi Eyupoglu/ Nazim Hikmet

Hasret


Yuz yil oldu yuzunu gormeyeli
belini sarmayali
gozunun icinde durmayali
aklinin aydinligina sorular sormayali
dokunmayali sicakligina karninin.
Yuz yildir bekler beni
                bir sehirde bir kadin.
Ayni daldaydik ayni daldaydik
ayni daldan dusup ayrildik
aramizda yuzyillik zaman
                yol yuz yillik
Yuz yildir alaca karanlikta
                kosuyorum ardindan





Yearning


Hundred years past without seen your face
without hugging your waist
not  being part of your eye
not to question lightness of your mind
not to touch warmness of your belly

hundred years now  a women waits me
                                       in a city 
Seating on the same branch same branch  
fall dawn from same branch,  we parted
between us hundred years time
                   the road hundred years
hundred years in pitch darkness
running after you.

Nazim Hikmet
6 Temmuz 1959


Miskin
Otur oturdugun yerde
Bu sarki sensiz soylenir
Ne kadar uzaksin yildizlardan
Ne kadar kucuksun dilenir


Otur oturdugun yerde
Arzular gelir kehribar misali dolanir
kadinlar gecer
Gozlerin bir cift kizilcik yapragi gibi sallanir
Otur oturdugun yerde
Telas etme
Olumun ayagina kadar gelir elbette.


Lazy


Seat still as you are
this tune goes without you
how far away you are from the stars
so small you wish you are


Seat still as you are
desires wraps around you like Amber stone
women pass away
your eyes swing like couple of  cranberry leaves
seat still as you are
do  not rush
obvious death will come to your door


Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu

Broken Blue

"Oh, wearisome conditions of humanity !

 Born under one law, to another bound,

 Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity:

 Created sick, commanded to be sound.

 What meaneth Nature by these diverse laws-

 Passion and reason, self -division's cause ? "*

*from "Point  Counter Point"

Aldous Huxley

Nazim Hikmet

                                                                                  

CHAT WITH DEAD NEZVAL

Soon after you gone,

weather got cold, snowed.

When it happens like this,

skies and streams cries

for whom just died

But you know, it's spring time,

13th of April, a bright day

Prague  smiles,

even there at the cemetery,

your name is uttered  like a pray,

your photograph with black lace

displayed at the window.

Perhaps weather will get bad again

even May is coming...

Prague, May, you know,

greener, and golden yellow,

once the young girls hit the streets

grief is mobbed as if it cleared from window pans.

and the grief left from you

will disappear like your shadows from sidewalks

of Prague! that is world...in fact

for deaths who loved the life, smart

deaths with good heart,

don't ask mourning for forty days,

neither they say :  " hell , after  I am gone ".

they leave a useful thing, a word ,

a tree, a smile,

and walk away

and they don't share

with alive ones

darkness of their tombs

and alone carry

weight of the stone

since they have not asked anything

from alive ones, they feel they'

never died...

I know you Nevzal,

you are one of them,

good hearted  Praquean

who loved the world, smart

you are one of those deaths...

 They called me from phone,

we must apart, what a pitty

So long brother Nezval,

in our world again

sweetest fruit : lightness...

April 20, 1958

Nazim Hikmet

"what remains from you is a silhouette I can no longer cuddle and embrace

 although you are really exist, there at my city flesh and bones

 your red mouth which- I've been banned its honey, your big eyes really exist

 and  giving away yourself like rebellion water and whiteness of your skin which,

                                                                                                   I can not touch.."

ON  LIVING

                              Living is no laughing matter

                              You must take it very seriously

                                                like a squire- for example,

                              I mean, without expectation beyond and above living,

                                                I mean living must be your whole occupation.    

                             

                              You must take living seriously,

                              I mean, so much so and such a degree,

                              for example,- your arms tied in back,  your back against the wall,

                              or else, in a laboratory with your large glasses,                                                 

                                                and white uniform

                                                         you can die for people..

                              even for the people whose faces you never seen

                              even though nobody forces you

                              even though you know living is most beautiful and real thing                               

                              I mean, you will take seriously living

                              even at your seventies, for instance- you will planted olive trees

                                                not for the kids either,

                                                even you afraid of dying, because you don't believing dying

                                                living , I mean weights heavier

 1947

ON LIVING

II

                              Lets say, you're sick

                              considered critical

                                               surgery  a  must,

                              chances are, you may not get up  again

                                                                 from white table.    

                             

                              It is not possible not to feel the grief leaving this life so soon

                              yet you're still laugh to jokes you been told,

                              you would look out  of the window to see, if it's raining

                              or else, you will  impatiently wait the latest news                                                

                                         

                              Let's say you are fighting,  for the things worth fighting for,

                                                                            you are on the front line
                              there, at first attack, that same day it is possible falling
                                                                            down  and  dying.
                              you will aware of this with a strange anger,
                              yet you will be madly curious to find out
                              the end of the war, perhaps will last many more years.

                             Let's say, you are in jail,
                             you getting  near fifty
                             still eighteen more years to go before Iron gate to open,
                             still you live together with the outside,
                             with the people, animal, fights and breezes,
                                                     I mean, beyond the walls
                                                     I mean, where ever you are,
                                                     you never going to die, kind of living.
                                                                                          
1948

ON LIVING

III

This earth will grow cold
star among stars,

as such one of the tiniest,

a gilded particle, on blue velvet

our great earth.

This earth will grow cold one day,

neither a block of ice

nor like a dead cloud,

but like an empty walnut will roll along

in pitch darkness everlasting...

as we speak, you will grief and

                                 saddened for

such a world must be loved

to be able to say...
"I lived"

                              

1948 February

                                                    
      

                          

Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu

Sakal Makal

Yahut

Aferin Oglum Ahmet

Bu yolda devam et

  Herifcioglu Sen Misel'de kovuvermis sakali

   Neylesin Bizim koyu, nitsin Mahmut Makal'i

Esmeri, sarisini, kumrali, kuzguni karasi

Cebinde dort dilberin telefon numarasi

Bir elinde telefon, bir elinde kesesi

Uyyy! yesin onu ninesi

yesin onu ninesi.

Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu

1913-1975

Karadutum, catal karam, cingenem

nartanem, nur tanem, bir tanem

Agac isem dalimsin salkim sacak

Petek isem balimsin agulum

gunahimsim, vebalimsin

Dili mercan, dizi mercan, disi mercan

yoluna bir can koydugum

Gokte araraken yerde buldugum

Karadutum, catal karam, cingenem,

daha ne olacaktin bir tanem

Gulen ayvam, aglayan narimsin,

kadinim , kisragim, karimsin.