ARIF, AHMED (1927-1991)

MY UNFORGETTABLE ONE1

You bloomed,Blue and green,In my loneliness.You bloomed,Bright red, speckled and pure;I could rise above griefs and treasons.To go,To go into exile in your eyes.To be locked up,To be locked up in the cage in your eyes.Wherever they may be!It isn't "To be or not to be,"Or "Cogito ergo sum" either;The real business is to understand the inevitable:The avalanche that cannot be stopped,The stream that flows forever.To drink,To drink the moonlight in your eyes.To attain,To attain life's miracle in your eyes.Wherever they may be!

Since your soul was concealed within my soul,When the executioner tightened the rope,It was our love that flowed into the night,Instead of blood.To feel,To feel the gallows in your eyes;To become silent,To become silent in your eyes;Those razor-sharpeyes of yours.

YOUR LOVE FOR ME2

1Published in An Anthology of Turkish Literature, edited by Kemal Silay

Your love has not forsaken meI was starving, I was thirsty;The night was dark and treacherousThe soul was desolate and wordless;The soul was shattered...And my hands were in manacles,I had no cigarettes, no sleep,But your love has not forsaken me.

LOCKED-UP3

Hey stone wall! Do you know?The iron gate, the black window?My pillow, my bunk, my chains,The sad picture in my cache,For whose sake I almost died,Do you know?My visitor has brought me green onions,My cigarettes have the aroma of cloves.Oh, the spring has come in the mountains of my land.

2 Published in An Anthology of Turkish Literature, edited by Kemal Silay

3 Published in An Anthology of Turkish Literature, edited by Kemal Silay