Perhaps I too am prose / İlhan Berk

PERHAPS I TOO AM PROSE

Your face is a street leading down to the sea,
It’s a crossroads, your face is a water clock

Whenever I bend down to your face
It’s a market opening early

You are a lily without rhyme or metre
White I breathe upon you deep blue

As if I were working on a long poem
Your face conferred its longest rhymes

And who knows what your face rubs off
Perhaps I too am prose

İlhan Berk - (Beautiful River)

İlhan Berk (18 November 1918 – 28 August 2008) was a leading contemporary Turkish poet. He was a dominant figure in the postmodern current in Turkish poetry (termed, "İkinci Yeni"; "The second new generation") and was very influential among Turkish literary circles.

Translated by George Messo





QUIZÁ SEA YO UNA PROSA

Tu rostro calles que bajan al mar
confluencias, clepsidras tu rostro

Cada vez que me inclino sobre tu cara
Tu rostro mercados que madrugan

Tú que eres un nenúfar sin métrica ni rima
Comprende que te soplo blanco, azulísimo

Como si trabajara yo en un poema muy largo
Tu rostro le deja caer las más largas rimas

Y quién sabe expulsado de tu rostro
Quizá sea yo una prosa

İlhan Berk - (Río Hermoso)

Traducción Mukadder Yaycioglu y Clara Janés





BİR DÜZYAZIYIMDIR BELKİ DE BEN

Senin yüzün denize inen sokaklar
Dörtyol ağızları, su saatleri senin yüzün

Ne zaman eğilsem yüzüne ben
Yüzün erkenden açan çarşılar

Sen ki bir nilüfersin ölçüsüz uyaksız
Anla ki beyaz, masmavi hohlarım seni

Sanki çok uzun bir şiire çalışıyorum da ben
Yüzün ona en uzun uyaklar düşürüyordur

Hem kim bilir yüzünden sürülmüş
Bir düzyazıyımdır belki de ben

İlhan Berk - (Güzel Irmak)

Alice