A very good song from Mustafa Ceceli - Karanfil (Gillyflower)

Ah benim örselenmiş, incinmiş karanfilim,
Bir sessiz çığlık gibi kırmızı, masum, narin,
Bu ürkek bu al duruş, söyle neden bu vaz geçiş?
Ne oldu ümitlerine?
Bu ne keder? Bu ne iç çekiş?
Sen ki özgürlük kadar güzelsin,
Sevgi kadar özgür...
O güzel başını uzat göklere,
Gül güneşlere gül...

Kırılma, küsme sen yine bir şiir yaz,
Çok değil inan az kaldı az,
Bu kadar erken susma biraz bekle
Ağlama, ağlama, gül biraz.

My crumpled, my offended gillyflower,
Like a silent scream, red, innocent, fine
This timid, this red pose, tell me why is this giving up?
What happened with your hopes?
What grief is this? What is this sigh for?
You are who beautiful as freedom,
Free as love,
Show your beautiful face to the skies,
Smile at suns, smile...

Don´t be hurt, don´t offend, you write a poem again,
Not too much, a litle left back, a little,
Don´t be quiet too much early, wait for a while,
Don´t cry, don´t cry, smile a little.

thx

turkishcobra //

Just wanted to say that Gillyflower is not in very common usage in English - I think Carnation would be a better translation of Karanfil.

Also, in this line - ´bu ürkek bu al duruş, söyle neden bu vaz geçiş?´ - doesn´t ´al´ mean ´crimson/scarlet´ and not ´white´? 

Carnation, clove or dianthus.........actually, I prefer dianthus  I prefer dianthus to carnation because a carnation is a dianthus.....it´s odd that clove and dianthus are the same word.  They are different plants..........

Gillyflower actually refers to:

Its name came via French giroflée from Greek karyophyllon = "nut-leaf" = the spice called clove. Some say that "gillyflower" originally referred to scented plants that were used in Europe as a cheap substitute for the spice called clove.

On another issue related to karanfil.....the 4th meaning in the Turkish dictionary is odd.....is that real?  I noticed the same thing with the word çiçek and a few others.

Yes Alameda, I knew the other names as well but somehow ´my crumpled clove´ or ´my crumpled dianthus´ didn´t have much of a poetic ring about them for me!

....the word ´odd´ - or an ´odd´ definition?  In the TLC on-?

You are quite right in that respect..........however if instead of

My crumpled, my offended gillyflower,
Like a silent scream, red, innocent,

it were

My crushed, my transgressed dianthus

like a hushed wail,  crimson, guileless

Would not the rythm better fit better?..........

I´m not sure Turkish Cobra will appreciate us trying to improve on his translation!  - but that sounds better to me!  (prefer ´scream´ to ´wail´ though)

...and while we are at it, in the last verse it should be ´don´t be offended´ not ´don´t offend´.

as in an odd definition.........

In the TLC-on?          in the Turkish Dictionary that you go to from here....

....indeed! Does say it´s slang though

You are quite correct......I am very thankful for his most generous translation........I´m just playing around with words as  I´ve noticed English speakers have lost a lot of their vocabulary through none use (or over simplification). 

English is a very rich language that is terribly abused. Maybe because the sun never set on the British empire....English incorporated ("borrowed") many words from other places......there are many Latin, Greek words in English.....among the many others. It is probably the reason it´s so difficult to learn.