THE CITY

You said, "I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.
Another city shall be found better than this.
Each one of my endeavors is condemned by fate;
my heart lies buried like a corpse.
How long in this disintegration can the mind remain.
Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I gaze,
I see here only the black ruins of my life
where I have spent so many years, and ruined and wrecked myself."

New places you shall never find, you'll not find other seas.
The city still shall follow you. You'll wander still
in the same streets, you'll roam in the same neighborhoods,
in these same houses you'll turn gray.
You'll always arrive at this same city.
Don't hope for somewhere else;
no ship for you exists, no road exists.
Just as you've ruined your life here, in this
small corner of earth, you've wrecked it now the whole world
through.

Constantine KAVAFY


KENT

"Başka diyarlara, başka denizlere giderim, dedin.
Bundan daha iyi bir kent vardır bir yerde nasıl olsa.
Sanki bir hükümle yazgılanmış bir çabam;
ve yüreğim sanki bir ceset gibi gömülmüş oraya.
Daha ne kadar çürüyüp yıkılacak böyle aklım?
Nereye çevirsem gözlerimi, nereye baksam burada
gördüğüm kara yıkıntılarıdır hayatımın yalnızca
yıllar yılı yıktığım ve heder ettiğim hayatımın."

Yeni ülkeler bulamayacaksın, bulamayacaksın yeni denizler.
Hep peşinde, izleyecek durmadan seni kent. Dolaşacaksın
aynı sokaklarda. Ve aynı mahallede yaşlanacaksın
ve burada, bu aynı evde ağaracak aklaşacak saçların.
Hep aynı kente varacaksın. Bir başka kent bekleme sakın,
ne bir gemi var, ne de bir yol sana.
Nasıl heder ettiysen hayatını bu köşecikte,
yıktın onu, işte yok ettin onu tüm yeryüzünde.


Constantino KAVAFIS


The "The City" in the original Greek.

Η Πόλις

Είπες• «Θα πάγω σ' άλλη γή, θα πάγω σ' άλλη θάλασσα,
Μια πόλις άλλη θα βρεθεί καλλίτερη από αυτή.
Κάθε προσπάθεια μου μια καταδίκη είναι γραφτή•
κ' είν' η καρδιά μου -- σαν νεκρός -- θαμένη.
Ο νους μου ως πότε μες στον μαρασμό αυτόν θα μένει.
Οπου το μάτι μου γυρίσω, όπου κι αν δω
ερείπια μαύρα της ζωής μου βλέπω εδώ,
που τόσα χρόνια πέρασα και ρήμαξα και χάλασα».

Καινούριους τόπους δεν θα βρεις, δεν θάβρεις άλλες θάλασσες.
Η πόλις θα σε ακολουθεί. Στους δρόμους θα γυρνάς
τους ίδιους. Και στες γειτονιές τες ίδιες θα γερνάς•
και μες στα ίδια σπίτια αυτά θ' ασπρίζεις.
Πάντα στην πόλι αυτή θα φθάνεις. Για τα αλλού -- μη ελπίζεις --
δεν έχει πλοίο για σε, δεν έχει οδό.
Ετσι που τη ζωή σου ρήμαξες εδώ
στην κώχη τούτη την μικρή, σ' όλην την γή την χάλασες.

Thank you so much Cyrano. Constantinos Kavafis is a great greek poet. I m so happy to read part of his poetry in here, and even happier to read it in greek as well..
a big thank you....

My pleasure, sophie. My sincere thanks is for your interest.

"For we sing, not to stand apart from people -- but to bring together people"

Yannis RITSOS

oh i m so glad to see that your interest and knowledge is not concerning only turkish poetry. and very proud to see those lines written here. thanks again

In that case, Lyndie, the lines below should make you cry! So, the next one might be a handkerchief-poem!

come, come again, whoever you are, come!
heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.

gel, yine gel! ne olursan ol, yine gel!
ister kafir ol , ister putperest ol, ister mecusi ,
istersen yüz kere bozmuş ol tövbeni ...
yine gel! bizim dergahımız umutsuzluk kapısı değil;
umut kapısıdır. Yine gel..

MEVLANA

REMEMBRANCE

(To Ethel and Julius Rosenberg...)

Wish a couple of doves rise
Carnations smell piteously
This is an unmentionable thing
Suddenly comes to my mind

Sun was almost rising
You would get up usually
Perhaps you were still drowsy
Your night comes to my mind

Like the names of flowers I love
Like names of streets I love
Like the names of all my love
Your names come to my mind

That's why comfortable beds shame
That lethargy during the kiss
Joining across the wire fence
Your fingers come to my mind

I have seen so many loves, allies
Read heroes in history
Suiting well to age solemn, simple
Your manners come to my mind

Wish a couple of doves rise
Carnations smell piteously
This is an unforgettable thing
Inevitably comes to my mind

Melih Cevdet ANDAY


ANI

Bir çift güvercin havalansa
Yanık yanık koksa karanfil
Değil bu anılacak şey değil
Apansız geliyor aklıma

Nerdeyse gün doğacaktı
Herkes gibi kalkacaktınız
Belki daha uykunuz da vardı
Geceniz geliyor aklıma

Sevdiğim çiçek adları gibi
Sevdiğim sokak adları gibi
Bütün sevdiklerimin adları gibi
Adınız geliyor aklıma

Rahat döşeklerin utanması bundan
ÖpüşÃ¼rken o dalgınlık bundan
Tel örgünün deliğinde buluşan
Parmaklarınız geliyor aklıma

Nice aşklar arkadaşlıklar gördüm
Kahramanlıklar okudum tarihte
Çağımıza yakışan, vakur sade
Davranışınız geliyor aklıma

Bir çift güvercin havalansa
Yanık yanık koksa karanfil
Değil, unutulur şey değil
Çaresiz geliyor aklıma

thx cyrano

THE AUTOPSY

And so they found that the gold of the olive root had dripped in the re-
cesses of his heart.

And from the many times that he had lain awake by candlelight waiting
for the dawn, a strange heat had seized his entrails.

A little below the skin, the blue line of the horizon sharply painted. And
ample traces of blue throughout his blood.

The cries of birds which he had come to memorize in hours of great lonely
ness apparently spilled out all at once, so that it was impossible for
the knife to enter deeply.

Probably the intention sufficed for the evil

Which he met—it is obvious—in the terrifying posture of the innocent.
His eyes open, proud, the whole forest moving still on the unblem-
ished retina.

Nothing in the brain but a dead echo of the sky.

Only in the hollow of his left ear some light fine sand, as though in a shell.
Which means that often he had walked by the sea alone with the pain
of love and the roar of the wind.

As for those particles of fire on his groin, they show that he moved time
hours ahead whenever he embraced a woman.

We shall have early fruit this year.


Odysseus Elytis
(winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Literature)

WEDNESDAY, 8c

IF ONLY MOTHER you could see me: as I was born,
I departed. I was far too little - besides who
understands? - and far too many were the creeping
monsters with the lateral, slimy legs.

So, from the length of a life constructed with such
difficulty all that remains is a half-ruined door
and a lot of large decaying water anemones.
Therefrom I pass and proceed - who knows? - to a womb sweeter than my country.


Odysseus Elytis