Küskün / Moody

BY Gonca Özmen
TRANSLATED BY George Messo
Turkish

Aldım denize bıraktım yüzünü
Suda dalgın bir mitos bir balığın ağzından

Kentleri anlayınca gördüm mahcup serçeleri
Saçaklar küskün ahşabın dilinden

Gürültüsünü duyamaz olmuş toprak
Bir ağaç gölgesine uzanıvermiş bir ev

Günler de ölüp gidiyor
Giderek eskiyor akşamın sesi

Ve sen alacakaranlıkta belli belirsiz anımsanan
Uzunca bir yolu gider gelirdi gözlerin

Beni öpersen dağılır zaman
Avlun olurum arsız otun

English

I took your face, set it in sea
A pensive myth in water, in the mouth of a fish

I saw delicate sparrows when I knew cities
Eaves from the moody language of wood

Earth no longer hears its noise
A house reclining in the shade of a tree

Days are dying too
Night’s voice grows steadily older

And you, faintly remembered in the twilight
Your eyes moved off down the long road, and returned

If you kissed me time would dissolve
I become your court, your encroaching grass

 

Biography

GONCA ÖZMEN was born in Burdur in 1982. Her two books, Kuytumda (2000) and Belki Sessiz (2008), have won several major awards. A selection of her poems in English, translated by George Messo, is forthcoming. She presently lives in Istanbul.

GEORGE MESSO is a poet, translator, and editor. His books include From the Pine Observatory (Halfacrown Books, 2000), Entrances (2006) and Hearing Still (2009), both published by Shearsman Books. He has written two books in Turkish: Aradaki Ses (The In-between Voice, 2005) and Avrupa’nın Küçük Tanrıları (The Little Gods of Europe, 2007). His translations include İlhan Berk’s A Leaf about to Fall: Selected Poems (Salt, 2006) which was shortlisted for the Popescu European Poetry Translation Prize, Madrigals (Shearsman Books, 2008), The Book of Things (Salt, 2009), İkinci Yeni: The Turkish Avant-Garde (Shearsman, 2009), and Birhan Keskin’s & Silk & Love & Flame: Selected Poems (Arc Publications, 2010). He is a Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society and the former editor of Near East Review.

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