EBUBEKIR EROGLU
(1950)
 

THE BURIED SONG

you hear the buried song
of a life not engraved in stone
interred with dreams unceasing

upon an epitaph its line endings frayed
you lean over to lend your ear
the pains of time leave their weight
certain moments appear like lightning
assuming neither body nor shape
of time ascending from heart to heart
you hear the buried song

it may be revealed at an unexpected place
sometimes at peace at others amidst turmoil
when placid museums are a depository for stolen goods
nearby mossy dwellings
when waves rising from the deep
our true human vein flood
of days whose vessel is struck and sunk
you hear the buried song

brother you too be resolute here
endure and try to impregnate it
if so it spreads with persistence
let the night reach its colour end
though flowers strike not empty eyes
their most luminous edge signifies
in the distance closest to death
that precludes not even the emptiest of hearts
you hear the buried song

Translated by Nebile Direkcigil
 

Ebubekir Eroğlu (1950, Malatya) received his elementary and middle school education in Yeşilyurt, where he was born. After finishing Malatya High School, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University. He worked as a labour inspector at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. He wrote columns in the newspapers Zaman and Yeni Şafak. He has published books of essays and research articles. He published the journal Yönelişler (1981-1990). His poetry has been published in journals like Diriliş, Edebiyat, Gösteri and Kitap-lık. The critics have praised him for his ability to handle religious themes with a modern sensitivity. His main subjects are faith, the existence of man in the universe and individual despair. His books of poetry: Kuşluk Saatleri/Mid-Morning Hours (1974), Kayıpların Şarkısı/Song of the Missing (1984), Yirmidört Şiir/Twenty-Four Poems (1991), Şahitsiz Vakitler/Times Without Witness (1998), Berzah /Ravine (Collected Poems, 2001) and Sınır Taşı/Boundary Marker (2006).