THE GALATA BRIDGE

Hanging out on the bridge
I watch all of you with pleasure.
Some of you are pulling the oars, whispering,
Some of you are picking oysters from the buoys,
Some of you are holding the rudders in the barges,
Some of you are ropemen at the hawsers;
Some of you are birds, flying like poets;
Some of you are fish, twinkling, twinkling;
Some of you are boats, some of you are floats,
Some of you are clouds, in the air,
Some of you are steamboats, dropping their smokestacks,
Like a rascal they go under the bridge;
Some of you are whistles, blowing;
Some of you are smoke, also blowing;
But all of you, all of you
All of you worry about a living.
Am I the only hedonist among you?
Don't worry, maybe one day
I'll also write a poem about you;
I'll make a few bucks,
I'll buy myself some food.




Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989