OrhanVeli

I, ORHAN VELI

I, Orhan Veli.
The famous author of the poem
``Suleyman Effendi, may he rest in peace,''
Heard that you are curious
About my private life.
Let me tell you:
First I am a man, that is,
I am not a circus animal, or anything like that.
I have a nose, an ear,
Though they are not shapely.
I live in a house,
I have a job.
Neither do I carry a cloud on my head
Nor a stamp of prophecy on my back.
Neither am I modest like King George of England
Nor aristocratic like the recent
Stable keeper of Celal Bayar.
I love spinach.
I am crazy about puffed cheese pastries.
I have no eyes
For material things,
Really not.
Oktay Rifat and Melih Cevdet
Are my best friends,
And I have a lover,
Very respectable.
I can not tell her name.
Let literary critics find it.
I also keep busy with unimportant things,
Only between projects,
How can I say,
Perhaps I have a thousand other habits,
But what is the point of listing them all.
They just resemble these.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

QUANTITATIVE

I love beautiful women,
I also love working women;
But most of all, I love beautiful working women

Orhan Veli
Translated by Turhan Coban, 1999

MY TREE

In our neighborhood
If there were other trees
I would not love you so.
But if you knew
How to play hopscotch with me
I would love you much more.

My beautiful tree.
When you die
I hope we'll have moved
To another neighborhood.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THE HILL

In the next life, after the factories end their work
If the road taking us home
In the evenings
Is not
So steep
Death
Is not a horrible thing
At all.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

TRAVELLING

I have no intention of travelling;
But if I did
I would come to Istanbul.
What would you do
If you saw me on the streetcar
going to Bebek?
I told you though,
I have no intention of travelling.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

TRIP

Birch trees are beautiful.
Still
When we arrive
At the last stop
I prefer
Being a river
To being a birch tree.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

SUNDAY EVENINGS

I don't look like much today;
When I pay my debts,
Possibly I'll own a bunch of new suits;
Possibly you still won't love me.

But, on Sunday evenings,
When I go by your neighborhood,
Dressed to kill,
Do you think I'll cherish you
As much as I do today?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

AM I IN LOVE?

Was I going to have thoughts also?
Was I going to be an insomniac like this?
Was I going to be quiet like this?
To stop caring for the tossed salad I loved so much?
Was I going to turn into this?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

SUICIDE

I must die without telling anyone.
A drop of blood must be on one corner of my mouth.
Those who don't know me
Will say,
``No doubt he loved somebody.''
Those who know me,
``Good for him. Poor man, he suffered a lot.''
But the true reason must be none of that.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

SPARROW

You pretty girl. You're not so sweet
As the sparrow lingering
In the noose
I set up on the highest branch
Of the plum tree
In the garden
Of my youth.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

DREAM

My mother died
In a dream
Last night
And my waking up
Crying
Reminded me
Of my crying when
One holiday morning
My balloon slipped through my fingers
And I watched it
Rise
Into the sky.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

BIRD AND CLOUD

Birdman!
We have a bird
A tree
Give me a nickel's
Worth of clouds.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

BAD BOY

You cut school.
You catch birds.
At the seaside
You speak to bad boys,
You draw dirty pictures on the walls.
Nothing major but
You'll turn my head too.
What a bad boy
You are.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

PEOPLE

All the time
But particularly
When I know you don't love me.
I wish to see you
Like the people I saw
Sitting on my mother's lap
As a kid...

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

TO KEEP BUSY

The beautiful women thought
The love poems I wrote
Were about them,
And I always suffered
Knowing that I wrote them
To keep busy.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THANK GOD

There is someone in the house,
Thank God,
There is breath.
There are steps.
Thank God.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

LIFE IS LIKE THIS

This house had a dog,
Very shaggy;
Named Chinchon;
It died.
This house also had a cat: Mavish.
It got lost.
The daughter of the house got married.
So many other bittersweet things
Happened last year.
Yes, they did;
But, it's like this.
Life's always like this!

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

MIGRATION I

From his window
Overlooking house tops
One could see the harbor
And church bells rang
Rang continuously on Sundays;
And at night
He could hear the train whistle
From his bed
At one o'clock;
And he began to love a girl
In the apartment
Across the street.
Despite all this
He left the place
And moved to another town.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

MIGRATION II

Now
One can see trees
From his window.
And it rains during the day
Along the canal.
The moon comes up at night
And there is a Thursday market
In the square.
But he,
Perhaps it is exile, money,
Perhaps a letter,
He thinks of something else.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

EDITH ALMERA

Possibly, right now.
He's thinking
Of Edith Almera
By a lake near Brussels.

Edith Almera
Is the first fiddle
In a gypsy orchestra,
Very popular on the nightclub circuit.

Curtsying to
Her applauding admirers,
She smiles.

Nightclubs are beautiful;
A person may fall
In love
With girls playing first fiddle there.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

LETTERS TO OKTAY

I.
Ankara, 12/8/37
9 P.M.
This terrible winter
I'm writing my first letter
In a Hungarian restaurant;
My dear Oktay
Tonight all the drunks
Send their greetings.

II.
Ankara, 12/10/37
2:30 P.M.
It is raining outside at this moment,
Clouds are drifting in the mirror;
These days
Melih and I are in love with the same girl.

III.
Ankara, 1/1/38
10 A.M.
Short of money
I'm looking for a job.
Nothing doing.
If I weren't in love,
Maybe I wouldn't wait
For the day I'll die for mankind.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

POEMS ON TRAVELLING

I.

When you're travelling,
The stars talk to you.
What they day
Is often sad.

II.

The song one whistles
While drunk in the evenings
Is merry,
But the same song
From inside of a train window
Isn't.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

Where
Where are my eyes?

The devil took them with him.
He couldn't sell them so he returned them.

Oh! Where
Where are my eyes?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

MY SHADOW

I am through
Dragging it
All these years
At the tip of my feet.
About time
We live a little,
My shadow
At someplace,
I
Someplace else.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

MY LEFT HAND

I got drunk again,
And thought of you ,
My left hand
My awkward hand
My poor hand.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Turhan Coban, 1999

MIGRAINE

I.

Regardless of how beautiful the roads may be,
How cool the night may be,
The body gets tired;
This migraine doesn't.

II.

I will enter my house now,
But I may leave it later,
Since these shoes and clothes are mine
And the streets are free.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE ALCOHOL

There is something like alcohol in the air;
It's making a guy like me feel bad, bad,
Especially if I'm also homesick;
Your lover one place,
You someplace else;
It's making a person like me feel sad, sad.

There is something like alcohol in the air;
It's making a guy like me drink, drink.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

A FRAGMENT

I wish, I was
A fish
In a bottle
of uozo.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Turhan Coban, 1999

MAKES ME DIZZY

Getting a letter makes me dizzy;
Drinking raki makes me dizzy;
Going on a trip makes me dizzy;
What's the meaning of all this, I don't know;
Someone singing ``My Kazim''
In Uskudar
Makes me dizzy.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

EPITAPH I

He hadn't suffered anyting as much as his corn,
Even being born ugly
hadn't bothered him as much.
He hadn't mentioned the God's name,
except while his shoe did pintch (for cursing),
But, he wasn't a sinner either.
It is a pitty that Suleyman Effendi is gone!

EPITAPH II

``To be or not to be'' wasn't matter for him at all.
He went to the bed one night,
and hadn,t able to wake up again.
They came and carried him away.
He was washed, prayed for, and buried.
If the creditors hear of his death,
They'll surely cancel his debts,
As for the money owed to him...
Nobody owed "may he rest in peace" him anything,

EPITAPH III

They put his gun to the storage.
They gave his clothes to others.
Neither bread crumbs in his bag,
nor lip traces on his canteen has (left) now.
Such a (strong) wind take him away,
,not even his name remained behind.
Only this lines remained
,above the coffeehouse stove,
by his handwriting-
``Dying is the wish of God
If parting weren't in it.''

Orhan Veli
Translated by Turhan Coban, 1999

?

Why do I think of masts
When I mention a port?
And of sailboats
When I mention the open seas?

Of cats when I mention March,
Of workers when I mention justice?
And why does the old miller
Believe in God without thinking?

And on windy days
Why does the rain come down at a slant?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

This world is just to drive a man crazy,

This midnight, the hushed buzz from the moonlit hills, this odor,
And trees all covered with sudden blossoms.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

BIRDS TELL LIES

Do not listen, my coat, do not listen
To what the birds are telling you,
You are my confidante in life.

Do not listen, birds tell this lie
With every coming spring;
Do not listen, my coat, do not, ever!

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

rMEMORY

The knife scar on my forehead
Is because of you;
My cigarette box a gift, a memory from you;
``Drop everything and come,''
Your cable is saying;
How can I forget you,
My dear dear darling whore?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Turhan Coban, 1999

MY GOLD TOOTHED BEAUTY

Come, my darling, come to me.
Let me buy you silk stockings.
Let me put you in taxis,
Let me take you to nightclubs.
Come,
Come my gold-toothed beauty.
With your mascara, your perm, my whore,
Your cork-heeled shoes, your American style...
Here,
Come.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

GOSSIP

You are one kind of beauty
Before the mirror,
Another
In bed;
Forget gossip,
Get dressed,
Put on your mascara,
Come down to the coffee shop
In the early evening
To spite everybody.

People will talk,
Let them;
Aren't we lovers?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THE NIGHTCLUB

One glass goes,
Another comes.
A million appetizers.
One of my lovers sings in the nightclub.
Another sits with me.
She drinks and the other gets jealous.
Don't be jealous,
My beauty,
Please don't.
You have your place.
She has hers.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

RUMORS

Who says
I've fallen for Suheyla?
Who saw me, who
Kissing Eleni
On the sidewalk in the middle of the day?
And they say I took Melahat
To Alamdar,
Is that so?
I'll tell you about it later,
But whose knee did I squeeze on the streetcar?
Supposedly, I've developed a taste for the fleshpots of Galata.
I drink, get drunk,
Then take myself there.
Forget about all these, guys,
Forget, forget about them.
I know what I'm doing.

And what about me
Supposedly putting Mualla on a rowboat
And making her sing out loud, ``My soul is yearning for you...''
In the middle of the harbor?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THE CAB DRIVER'S WIFE

Cab driver's wife, pity me.
Don't undress in front of the window
Like this.
Your eyes are on your brother-in-law
While I am young.
I can't rot in jail.
Don't confuse and get me in trouble.
Cab driver's wife, pity me.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

SPREAD OUT

She's spread out;
Her skirt pulled up slightly;
She's lifted her arm, one can see her armpits;
And with one hand she's holding her breast;
I know, she thinks nothing
Evil by it,
I know;
Neither do I;
But how can a person,
A person lie like this?

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

BEARD

Who knows how to make
Lanterns out of watermelon
The way I do,
To carve ogres on it
With a mother-of-pearl
Jackknife,
To write couplets,
Write letters,
Go to bed,
Get up,
Satify my Halime
Of so many years?
We didn't gray this beard
Of mine at the flour mill.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

FULL OF

We have seas, full of the sun;
We have trees, full of leaves;
From dawn to dusk we go and go and come
Among our seas, among our trees
Full of
The blues.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

ARRIVALS

Quinces come from Istanbul
And pomegranates;
I turned and saw
A sexy woman coming;
As for income
It comes
Short;
Every day
Creditors come;
Oh mother, my sweet mother,
I can't stand it;
The day's end
Doesn't come.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

BRAZIER

A brazier used to burn at their door...
Nothing could be seen
But the fire and the smoke
In the dark of the evening.
During the shortages, the abundance of charcoal
Brought peace and happiness to the childish soul
Of my poet friend Oktay Rifat,
And Munevver Hanim, his mother,
Used to grill fish on the brazier,
And he used to fill his nostrils
With its smoke
With a cardboard fan.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THE COVERED OR THE GRAND BAZAAR

You know how unused sheets smelled in cedar
Closets?
Your store smells the same way.
You didn't know my kid sister.
She was going to be a bride on Independece Day,
If she's lived.
These silver threads are her threads.
This veil is her veil.
And these women in the window?
This one with the blue skirt,
This one with the green one?
Do they spend the night standing up?
And this dusty pink blouse?
Does it also have a story?
Don't say the Covered Bazaar
And forget about it.
The Covered Bazaar,
The covered box.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989

THE MERMAID

She must just have left the sea.
Her hair and lips
Smelled of the sea till the morning.
Her rising and falling breast was like the sea.

I knew she was poor -
But you can't talk of poverty all the time.
Gently, next to my ear
She sang songs of love.

Who knows what she has learned and experienced
In her life fighting the sea.
Patching fish nets, casting fish nets, gathering fish nets,
To remind me of spiny fish
Her hands touched my hands.

That night I saw, I saw it in her eyes;
How lovely the sea has risen in the open sea.
Her hair taught me about waves;
I tossed and tossed around dreams.

Orhan Veli
Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 1989