THE DREAMS OF THE YOUNG GIRL AND THE SEWER MAN

She sees a husband in her dream,
A well-bred man with a salary of 100 liras;
They get married and move to the city;
Letters come to their address;
Happy Acres, Basement Floor;
The apartment is the size of a box;
She doesn't work washing clothes anymore
Or washing windows.
As for washing dishes,
They're only her own.

Their children are healthy as tops;
They buy a used car.
She takes them to Kizilay Park in the mornings
So that little Yilmaz can play in the sand
Like society children.

The sewer man's most choice dream is a bath,
He lying on the marble slab;
The scrubbers stand in line next to him.
One of them pours water
And the other lathers him.
A third waits with a sponge in his hand.
As other customers are entering the bath,
The sewer man,
Now like pure cotton,
Leaves.




Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989