FAZIL HÜSNÜ DAGLARCA
Seçme Siirler * Selected Poems
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Translated by Talat Sait Halman

Akdeniz Siirleri

     Sen Deniz Gök,
     Bir an dursaniz uykuda
     Büyür bir yosun geceye karsi.

     Tedirgin olur ölüler
     Bir an yaslansaniz karanliga,
     Sen Deniz Gök.

     ---------------------

     Dalarim engine
     Ki yasadigim
     Aniladigimdir.

     Roma'yla Kartaca'nin arasinda
     Yüzer, sevgi sevgi
     Istanbul.

     Böler bir kus düsüncemi ikiye
     Maviden
     Yarida kalir içki.

     ---------------------

     Dersin ki
     Ellerimize degecek
     Yildizlar
     Büyüyecek büyüyecek de.

     Dersin ki
     Bir aydinligi var
     Sevgililer için,
     Karanlik sessiz de.

     Dersin ki
     Uyuyamiyorum
     Yalniziz
     Gece, mavi de.

     ---------------------

     Sessizdi yeryüzü
     Yeryüzünde bircik Akdeniz vardi
     Akdenizde
     Yalniz ikimiz.

     Beni seviyor musun dedim,
     Yumdu gozlerini uzakliga,
     Tam sorulacak an, diye gülümsedi,
     Tam sorulacak yer.

     ---------------------

     Bir kocaman yesil bir kocaman boz
     Yellerde
     Çarpar birbirine çarpar enginlere dek.

     Dalgalarin ucunda yildizlarin ucu
     Her köpük bir firtina
     Her köpük bir evren.

     Su deniz su gök gizlenebilir
     Seni sevdigim
     Gizlenemez.

     ---------------------

     Havaya da yalima da agaca da benzer ama
     En çok suya benzer
     Sevgimiz.

     Morlugun acisi var sonu yok
     Karisir yasamimiza
     Kendiliginden.

     Herkes ölünce toprak olurmus
     Hayir hayir
     Bizim su olacagimiz besbelli.

     ---------------------

     Akdeniz enginlerde kararmaktadir
     Ama
     Ben
     Öyle maviyim ki.

     Akdeniz bir gitmislikle eski, uzak,
     Ama
     Ben
     Sahibi gibiyim yildizlarin.

     Akdeniz seni bir daha yaratamaz
     Ama
     Ben
     Seni bir daha sevebilirim.

     ---------------------

     Deli gibi bir gürültu, ansizin,
     Yirtilircasina yarilir sessizlik,
     Düsünür Akdeniz.

     Iste uçaklar geçer havalarindan
     Kalir mavilik üstünde apak izleri,
     Akdeniz anlar ve sever.

     ---------------------

     Denizdir,
     Her aksam üstü
     Bütün düsüncelerde
     Gelip gider.

     7nin le
     Acisi
     Uzunlugu
     Aksi.

     Ve gece yarisidir bu masmavi sey,
     Senin
     Uzaklarda
     Unuttugun sessizlik.

     ---------------------

     Duymustun
     Bu türküyü
     Çok eskiden de.

     Bu türküyle anilarsin yelden
     Yesilden
     Kadirgalarin dibindeki sessiz yosunlari.

     Bu Akdeniz dalgalarinda bu türküde sen
     Varsin isil isil
     Ve yoksun biraz.

     ---------------------

     Iyice düsün bu bütün yasamamizdir.


Poems of the Mediterranean

     You, sea-sky,
     If you stop a moment in sleep,
     Seaweeds grow against the night.

     Dead men become restless
     If you lean a moment on the dark,
     You, sea-sky.

     ---------------------

     I plunge into the horizon,
     For what I live
     Is what I can recall.

     Between Rome and Carthage
     Floats, love by love,
     Istanbul.

     A bird splits my thoughts
     From the blue.
     My drink remains unfinished.

     ---------------------

     You say
     Stars
     Will touch our hands
     In an endless growth.

     You say
     Darkness
     Is bright for lovers
     Because it keeps quiet.

     You say
     I can't go to sleep.
     We are alone,
     And the night is blue.

     ---------------------

     The globe was calm
     With only the Mediterranean on it.
     On the Mediterranean,
     Just the two of us.

     I said, "Do you love me?"
     She closed her eyes to the horizons.
     "Just the moment to ask," she smiled,
     "Just the place to ask."

     ---------------------

     A mass of green, a mass of gray
     Over the winds,
     They collide, and both crash into the horizon.

     A rim of the stars on the crest of the waves --
     Each foam is a tempest,
     Each tempest, a world.

     The sea and the sky may be concealed.
     My love for you
     Cannot be hidden.

     ---------------------

     It's like air and flame and tree
     But most of all like water,
     This love of ours.

     Purple has anguish but no end.
     It blends into our life
     By itself.

     They say man turns to dust at death.
     No, not us...
     Clearly we shall turn to water.

     ---------------------

     The Mediterranean grows dark on the horizons,
     But
     I am
     Blue all over.

     The Mediterranean is bygone and far as you go,
     But
     I am
     The owner of the stars.

     The Mediterranean cannot create you anew,
     But
     I
     Can love you again.

     ---------------------

     A frantic clamor erupts,
     And silence is suddenly shattered.
     The Mediterranean deepens in thought.

     Airplanes cruise the sky.
     Their white traces cling to the blue.
     The Mediterranean understands and loves.

     ---------------------

     It is the sea.
     Each evening
     In all thoughts
     It comes and goes.

     Seven to none --
     Its agony,
     Its duration,
     Its echo.

     This deep blue thing is midnight,
     The silence
     You forgot
     Far away.

     ---------------------

     You had heard
     This song
     In the old days too.

     The song evokes in the wind
     From green
     The quiet weeds on the bottom of galleons.

     In the Mediterranean's waves and in this song
     You are alive, sparkling,
     And somehow you don't exist.

     ---------------------

     Think hard; this is all of our living.


"Akdeniz Siirleri" is from SELECTED POEMS OF FAZIL HÜSNÜ DAGLARCA, translated by Talat Sait Halman, © 1969 by University of Pittsburgh Press.
Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
All rights reserved.