THE COVERED OR THE GRAND BAZAAR

You know how unused sheets smelled in cedar
Closets?
Your store smells the same way.
You didn't know my kid sister.
She was going to be a bride on Independece Day,
If she's lived.
These silver threads are her threads.
This veil is her veil.
And these women in the window?
This one with the blue skirt,
This one with the green one?
Do they spend the night standing up?
And this dusty pink blouse?
Does it also have a story?
Don't say the Covered Bazaar
And forget about it.
The Covered Bazaar,
The covered box.




Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989