|
Melih Cevdet Anday, one of the giants of Turkish literature and a columnist for the social-democrat daily Cumhuriyet, has died on Friday, November 29th at age 87. Anday's funeral was held in Istanbul, attended by thousands of his friends and readers including a who's who list of Turkish politics, arts and sciences.
Anday was born in Canakkale on March 3, 1915. He was the great grandson of Mirlava Mehmet Rasit Pasa, the first pharmacist in the Ottoman Empire. Following his middle and high school education in Istanbul and Ankara, he went to Belgium to study Sociology. However, at the declaration of WW2, he had to return to Turkey.
The winner of dozens of poetry and literature prizes, Anday's works have been translated into Russian, French, English, Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian and Polish.
God bless his soul.
Here are two of his poems:
"Rahati kaçan agaç"
Tanidigim bir agaç var
Etlik baglarina yakin
Saadetin adini bile duymamis
Tanrinin isine bakin.
Geceyi gündüzü biliyor
Dört mevsimi, rüzgari, kari
Ay isigina bayiliyor
Ama kötülemiyor karanligi.
Ona bir kitap verecegim
Rahatini kaçirmak için
Bir ögrenegörsün aski
Agaci o vakit seyredin.
-----------------------------------------
"The Upset Tree"
There’s a tree that I know
Close to the Etlik orchards
It did not even hear about the word “happinessâ€
Strange are the ways of the Lord.
It knows what’s day and what’s night
As well as the four seasons, the wind and the snow
It loves the moonlight
Without, however, badmouthing the darkness.
I will give him a book
Just to upset him
Let him learn about Love
Then you should watch him.
(Translated by Ugur Akinci)
"BAKIR ÇAGI"
Nedenini bilmeden bagirdi bir karga.
Daha çabuk. Beklemek zorundaki bir çamin
Tepesinden. Ve bildigimiz yaz geldi, tek kanatli,
Yorgun bile degil, acemi ve yalniz
Ilk kez görüyormus gibi yapmaliyiz
Kurali bozmamak için. Daha çabuk.
Düsünmek hizin yarisidir.
Daha çabuk. Yaz daha çabuk gelmeli
Kis daha çabuk, ayin on dördü ve çocuk
Konçerto ve ülser ve ask ve hükümet
Ve saç dökülmesi, saat daha çabuk.
Ilerlemeli ve ölüm... Daha çabuk
Ölüm doganin tek gözlülügüdür
Mezarlari yuvarlak açmali. Daha çabuk
Tostoparlakti ölüler bakir çaginda
Ölüme doganin utangaçligi deyip geçmeli,
Kimsesizlik, kendini tanitlama çabasi demeli, ah
Unutulma korkusu, baska bir sey degil. Daha çabuk
Hiz yarisidir doganin öte yarisi
Ölüm. Demek daha çabuk
Yaz gibi gelir nedenini bilmeden ölüm.
Ve ilk kez ölürmüs gibi ölmeliyiz.
Kurali bozmamak için. Daha çabuk.
Ölümü oyalamaliyiz
Doga insanin yarisidir.
Ölüm hizin tümü.
-Ha bugün ha yarin
Bugün de ölünebilir. Hem daha çabuk
Demek daha iyi.
Hem dün de ölebilirsiniz
-Ama dün lodostu
Unutunuz mu çocuklar sinemaya gitmislerdi,
Örtüye devrilmisti sabah çayim.
-Bugün ve yarin birdir
Ya lodos çikar, ya çay devrilir
Çocuklara ne bakiyorsun, hepsi ölebilir.
Baris ve savas bir,
Doga ve insan biridir
Hiz ve ölüm bir
Nedenini bilmeden bagirdi bir karga
Beklemek zorundaki bir çamin tepesinden.
Yalniz yasalar önemlidir dedi biri.
Insan beni ilgilendirmez, ölümü büyütmemeli.
Yaz geldi diye sasip kalan biri
Yasamak suç mu diye geçirdi içinden.
"COPPER AGE"
A crow screamed without knowing why
Quicker. He has to wait on top of a pine.
And the summer we knew arrived, single winged
Not even tired, just novice and lonely
We have to act like we’re seeing him for the first time
In order not to violate the rule. Faster.
Thinking is half of speed
Faster. Summer should arrive more quickly
Winter quicker, fourteenth of the month and the child
Concerto and ulcer and love and the government
And hair loss, the hour quicker.
Must advance and death… quicker.
Death is nature with a single eye
We should dig round graves. Faster.
The dead were really round in the Copper Age
We must not just say death is nature’s shyness and leave it at that
Loneliness, attempt to introduce himself, one should say, ahh
The fear of being forgotten, that’s nothing else. Faster.
Speed is half of it, nature’s other half
Death. Apparently, quicker
Death arrives like summer and we don’t know why,
And we should die like we’re dying for the first time
In order not to violate the rule. Faster.
We must delay death.
Nature is one half of man.
Death is the whole of speed.
Could be today, could be tomorrow
One can die today as well. Faster at that
Thus it’s better.
Actually you could die yesterday as well.
"-- But yesterday we had the Lodos wind"
"-- Did you forget, the kids went to the movies"
"-- I spilled my morning tea all over the table cloth."
Today and tomorrow is the same
You either have the Lodos wind, or the tea is spilled
Why pay attention to the kids? They could all die.
Peace and war are together.
Nature and man are the same.
Speed and death are the same.
A crow screamed without knowing why
He has to wait on top of a pine
Only laws are important, said somebody.
Humanity does not concern me, one should not make too much of death.
A guy who was dumbfounded when the summer arrived
Wondered quietly if it was a crime to be alive.
(Translated by Ugur Akinci)
|
