Seal sa Domhan Thoir: sojourn in the Eastern World

Eire-Ireland:Journal of Irish Studies, Spring-Summer, 2003 by Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill

   Istanbul'u dinliyorum, gozlerim kapali
   Once hafiften bir ruzgar esiyor;
   Yavas yavas sallaniyor
   Yapraklar, agaclarda;
   Uzaklarda, cok uzaklarda,
   Sucularin hic durmayan cingiraklari
   Istanbul'u dinliyorum gozlerim kapali.

   Istanbul'u dinliyorum, gozlerim kapali;
   Kuslar geciyor, derken;
   Yukseklerden, suru suru, ciglik ciglik.
   Aglar cekiliyor dalyanlarda;
   Bir kadinin suya degiyor ayaklari;
   Istanbul'u dinliyorum, gozlerim kapali. (5)

   I am listening to Istanbul with my eyes closed.
   First a breeze is blowing
   And leaves swaying
   Slowly on the trees;
   Far, far away the bells of the
   Water carriers ringing
   I am listening to Istanbul with my eyes closed.

   I am listening to Istanbul with my eyes closed.
   A bird is passing by,
   Birds are passing by, screaming, screaming,
   Fish nets being withdrawn in fishing weirs,
   A woman's toe dabbling in water,
   I am listening to Istanbul with my eyes closed.

  (Veli 1989:81, trans. Nemet-Nejat)

In November 1950 Orhan Veli Kanik died of a brain hemorrhage in Istanbul at the age of thirty-six. His last unfinished poem, "The Parade of Love," was found wrapped around his toothbrush after his death. The type of modern poetry that he pioneered has continued to develop and grow. Its most recent excellent exponent is a young Kurdish woman Bejan Matur, who, though Kurdish is her mother tongue, writes in Turkish. She is doing for her generation what Orhan Veli did for his own and for all time: creating a whole new language of poetry.

I mentioned syllabic folk poetry and especially the mystic tradition which seven centuries ago was voiced by Yunus Emre, as in the following stanza from the poem titled "Askin aldi bendin beni," "Your love has wrested me away from me":

   Askin aldi bendin beni
   Bana seni gerek seni
   Ben yanarim dun u gunu
   Bana seni gerek seni.

   Your love has wrested me away from me
   You're the one I need, you're the one I crave
   Day and night I burn, gripped by agony,
   You're the one I need, you're the one I crave.

   (Emre 1990:26-27, trans. Halman)

This tradition of syllabic folk poetry, much of it having a mystic quality, was always sung to the poet's own accompaniment on the stringed instrument called the baglama or saz. It has continued to our own time, and competitions for extempore composition of folk poetry are still held.

In both Persian and Arabic, the literary language is poles apart from the colloquial language, but in Turkish, because of the extremely robust and widespread tradition of folk poetry, the language as it exists since the reforms of the 1920s is not so polarized. Most famous of the folk poets called "ashiks" (literally, 'lovers') of recent times is Ashik Veysel from Sivas province; following is a selection from "Kara Toprak," "The Black Earth," perhaps his most famous composition:

   Dost dost diye nice nicesine sarildim
   benim sadik yarim kara topraktir
   beyhude dolandim yar, bosa yoruldum
   benito sadik yarim kara topraktir.

   I embraced so many, thinking them a friend
   My true love is the black earth
   In vain I wandered, exhausted myself for naught
   My true love is the black earth. (6)