ARIF DAMAR
(1925)

WE WERE POOR WE LOVED THE WORLD

So distant
So beautiful
It turned out eventually
That I never sow thot foce
Like it hod never existed

When I am desolate
Heartbroken
The serene beauty
On Tulin's face
How it resembles
The one on the blurred
Broken
Missing glass
Of a homeless memory

On a dismal winter evening
Delicate
Pale
Dark
How it resembles
The one I keep looking at
Secretly
When I am desolate
Heartbroken

The one I left in the pots

On seashells
On the pages of a book
Whether difficult
Or not
A half-moon on the ceiling  

Delicate
Pale
Dark
On a dismal winter evening
When I am desolate
Heartbroken
How it resembles
The one on the missing glass
Of a homeless memory
Blurred

Broken
The serene beauty
On Tulin's face  

Whether difficult
Or not

We were poor
We loved the world  

A half-moon on the ceiling

Translated by Suat Karantay

 

THE BROKEN SPOOL

It was evening
On black stones was written in white
Two numbers one below the other
6228

I was the only one to read them
The old fried is gone
The two of us were on the swings
Of our own silence
Apart from each other
We were swinging elbow to elbow
We stopped
Then by separate staircases
We went down to our thresholds  

It was evening
We left behind us the domestic city of the evening
In one hand the stick
On which we were leaning In the other our lost
Exhausted daylight
When the redness in the west struck us
To draw once more our faith
Sparks flew from our foreheads  

It was evening
We walked
We reached
The wise evening sea
Without delay
We kneeled
And stayed there

We first set our sweating wrists free
From the iron of the handcuffs
The old friend had put on unawares
The sea was tired
Tired was the water
                        "Night
                         Night of nights
                         Pitch-dark nights"  

We half opened the door of the tired water
Without mystery
In the starlight we knew our own light
We set it apart quietly  

-You have nothing in common she said
Besides your memories
- We have nothing in common I said  

Don't I know what I learned
In this world
                       If memories are not lived
                       Lived once more
                      They wither and fade
                       Left there All alone

How else could we be
We were silent
                       "Night
                       Night of nights
                       Pitchaork nights"

We didn't look at the stars
We didn't even listen
To the sound
Or the silence
It was as if we were shaped
In the streams of the ocean

Morning-glories were waiting for us
And water-lilies
Were waiting
To spread their fragrance  

We were the rainbow dream
The simple striving
Without splendour
Of the ear-shell

We
We were the two of us
The unheard song of the sea-tulips
In the deep

Tomorrow
We were to set the world right
Together

But first let the night end
                       "Night
                       Night of nights
                       Pitch-dark nights"
That natural
lmmortal beauty
Blossomed on the thinnest of the uncanny branches  

-Come let us get up we said
-Come
                       While from the broken spool
                       Of our desperate dream
                       Two strips of white thread
                       Came down
                      Came everywhere

Translated by Mina Urgan