W. B. BAYRIL

W. B. BAYRIL

THE LANDS THAT ALLAH HAS FORSAKEN

Children are eternity,

at those lands that Allah has forsaken.

We are star dust. That’s what we are.

In deep loneliness of universe.

Everything shut up.

Like consonants letters of immigration.

We have already left our souls at

desolate ruins that lightened by moon.

None is no longer a seashore for humanity here…

Because children are eternity

at those lands that Allah has forsaken.

TRANSLATION: HILAL KARAHAN

ALLAH’IN TERK ETTİĞİ TOPRAKLAR

Çocuklar, sonsuzluktur,

Allah’ın terk ettiği topraklarda.

Yıldız tozuyuz. Buyuz biz.

Kainatın o büyük yalnızlığında.

Herşey sussun.

Göçmenliğin sessiz harfleri gibi.

Zira içimizdeki insanı çoktan terk ettik

ayışığı vuran ıssız yıkıntılarda.

Kimse değil artık kimsenin sahili buralarda...

Çocuklar, sonsuzluktur çünkü

Allah’ın terk ettiği topraklarda.

LOTUS

Scattered morning of perception… Glassy

borders… Imperfect beauty’s insistence

on the flesh…

In you I see the mistery. Oh blessed

plant!.. Soul blended with rose.

Existence relaxes… When garden

appears and Being is yet in leaves…

You were the shivering river of creation.

Life has secrets and mind has

oblivion beyond things. Hush!

Let not the ripped simplicity

of bewildering expand between us.

Much is concealed in the heart. And indeed, it must!

And sometimes whatever you do,

a lily’s susceptibility is evident to its skin.

Man is deficient in any point of view.

Man, the cursed adventure,

apprentice to the estate of endurance.

Oh blessed plant!.. Soul blended with rose.

That may lead us to look for the incompleteness

in God.

TRANSLATED BY: HILAL KARAHAN

LOTUS

Tenin cam tapınağı. Arzu kör-

elirse, tekrarlanmaz kalpte,

çocukluğun o beyaz sabahları.

Kariâ! Kimdim ben, sen değilsem?

Ey yırtıcı hazzın müphem kaynağı.

Kelimelerin, bazen üstünü hafifçe

araladığı.

Hafızanın manyetik alanı. O tahrip

kâr cazibe. Meğer doğruymuş, insanın

Oteki'ne gittikçe, hep kendine

vardığı.

Vakte bakıyorum. Zaman'ın dilden

önceki sükûnetine. Zelzele! Kayıyor

avuçlarımdan hızla, ömrün sırça

yaprağı.

Şair! İnsandaki arka bahçe. Sendin

bil, varoluşun dalgın zambağı.

BOATS ON THE RIVER

The cottage that oozes the moon: Imagination! Figure

s are climbing, like poison ivies,

up on the letter statues sleeping in my heart

Water, tired of its existence. Rebellious

substance. It pushes unwillingly, with flowers

on the fancy river.

Two bodies returned to their innocence.

The last symbol of love. Side by side, hand in hand again.

To flow. Blind verb. It submits with resignation

To the power that condemned it to the flow.

Shadows floating in laurels. They mixed

with the river at the end… Oh mother river, the amber

hair of yours you lay across my heart! What language

can suffice now to call them dead?

It flashed. In an instant. On the paper. On this vitreous,

on this fragile ground. The remnants

I try to reconstruct of that hazy

halo… There remains the light scratches alone

in my helpless imagination inflicted by the moon.

Past: intricate account! What got lost,

what accumulates? In the golden seasons

I spent in-between two radiant magnets!

TRANSLATOR: YAPRAK DAMLA YILDIRIM

“BOATS ON THE RIVER”

Ay sızdıran kulübe: Muhayyile! Eşkâl

ler tırmanıyor, zehirli sarmaşıklar

gibi, kalbimde uyuyan harf heykellerine.

Su, varoluşundan yorgun. İsyankâr

madde. İtiyor gönülsüzce, çiçeklerle

süslü nehrin üzerinde.

Masumiyetine iade edilen iki gövde.

Son timsâli aşkın. Yan yana, yine el ele.

Akmak. Kör fiil. Boyun eğiyor tevekkülle,

kendini akışa mahkûm eden kudrete.

Defneler içinde yüzen gölgeler. Karıştı

sonunda nehre… Âh anne nehir, bal rengi

saçlarını kalbime seren nehir! Hangi dil

elverir şimdi onlara ölü demeye?

Çakıp söndü. Lâhzada. Kâğıtta. Bu camsı,

bu kırılgan zeminde. Kalıntılarını

yeniden kurmaya çalıştığım o müphem

hâle… Sadece ışık sıyrıkları kaldı

ayın sakatladığı aciz muhayyilemde.

Mâzi: çetrefil muhasebe! Yiten neydi,

biriken ne? Işıyan iki mıknatısın

arasında geçirdiğim o altın mevsimlerde!

DIGNUSORNATUS

for Bonnefoy.

ornament soothes.

bird is presence

sculpted bird

invention

existence drawn on stone

cloud dispersion

sensuous

fading away like a music

vanishing off in the cloud

what an opening in hearts

to the influence of the mist

under the heavens

of ash and iron

the ceremony of the dark

the sleeping thought

between the thought and the sun

in the noon of absence

under the dead heavens

to the wind of shadeless flame

do not give way

even though the “green darks of

moist spring” summon

TRANSLATOR: YAPRAK DAMLA YILDIRIM

DignusOrnatus

Bonnefoy için.

süs yatıştırır.

kuş bulunuştur

yontulmuş kuş

buluş

taşta çizili varoluş

bulutun dağılışı

duyumsal

bir müzik gibi silinmek

bulutta yok olup gitmek

sisin nüfuzuna nasıl

bir açılış bu yüreklerde

külden ve demirden

göğün altında

karanlığın töreni

uyuyan düşünce

düşünceyle güneş arasında

yokluğun öğlesinde

ölü göğün altında

gölgesiz alevin rüzgârına

kapılma

“nemli ilkyaz akşamlarının

yeşil karanlıkları” çağırsa da

W. B. BAYRIL

W. B. BAYRIL : Real name: Vural Bahadır BAYRIL. Turkish Poet, writer (Family origin: Albenia) Born in 1962, Magnesia/Turkey He graduated from Fine Art Academy of İstanbul Faculty of Basic Design, Art Critique and Art History. He completed his master thesis in the same faculty. Since 1980, his poems and articles about painting, literature and poetry have been published in many reviews and newspapers. He established ŞiirAtı (means: Pegasus) poetry magazine &publications with his associates in between 1985-2010. He published more than 50 poetry books that made revolution in Turkish poetry history. He received an honorable mention from the review Yarın, in the field of poetry critique in 1983 and an honorable mention at the Enka Science and Art Award with famous poets. He won the 1992 Behçet Necatigil PoetryAward with his first book Melek Geçti (Angel Passed) and the Writers Union of Turkey Award for Şer Cisimler (EvilThings) in 2000. He has worked in the advertising business as creative director in İstanbul for 30 years. He is a member of jury of Seyhan Erözçelik Poetry Award. He is media sponsor and creative designer of Poetİstanbul İstanbul Poetry Festival and Feminİstanbul Woman Poetry Festival. He has also joined to many collective books, poetry almanacs and literature festivals. His poems were translated into many languages.