doğan kim

doğan kim ış iğire tam kurbanlık kılıkta

          her solukta yakarsam taşar kara tencere

gülse çalı tutkuda diken dime battıkta

          özlem oyar yüreğ’me kuş gözümlü pencere

ök erliğim yunar mı sel çor uğu bu kumda

          döşümde kıyam köprük yaşam kirpiğ’me konuk

şölen öyleni bitmiş sin yankuğlar uykumda

          kaytaran gün töker ay --yıl ot uzlarda tutuk

(1988)

so who is he?

so who is he, most like a prey,

     born stark naked to spinning yarns of light?

had i prayed out with every breath,

     it would just boil over the black pot.

if bushes become roses in love

          call them not thorns when pricked,

     yearning honeycombs my heart with sockets of birds’ eyes.

could my bovine roots well up in this flood swept waste?

     judgement bubbles on my back and life’s spring

         is but a drop on my lashes.

feasting time’s over now, a tomb echoes in my sleep;

     sneaking past is the day, the moon trundling,

         a year gets caged in by camp fires of space

translated by self  (07/22/1988)