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SHABAN THE SON OF SELIM AND HIS BOOK
(FRAGMENT)
I
IN ISTANBUL, IN FISH BAZAAR, IN A TAVERN
A PRISON CLERK
"- Burning
burning their fingers at the sparks,
the hands of this humble prison clerk, your servant,
have touched human hearts,
these twenty five years,
a quarter of a century, that is.
The life of man is long
perhaps longer than necessary,
or perhaps is it shorter than necessary...
One last drink, you and I,
'Weeping
weeping has turned my wine to poison, tonight...'"
The tramway to Bebek has left Eminönü,
and plunged in darkness is the Fish Bazaar.
The rain falls on the windows of the tavern.
"- My soul,
'The wind has turned me into a leaf in the air...'
From the late Naji, the master...
Why this hullabaloo,
this great confusion, why?
And why must people be sad, like that dead fish,
lying so melancholy in the dish?
On Judgement Day,
On Judgement Day the prison clerk, your servant,
hhas a question to ask of Azrail, Angel of Death...
One last drink, you and I...
Have you ever seen a man being hanged?
We are hanging one
at sunrise
tomorrow...
Abdulhamid drowned medical students
threw them into the water
at Seraglio Point.
The currents swept the sack away
they were never found.
Many,
many were hanged
in the days of the fight for freedom.
In those days they hanged men
at the head of the bridge,
now at Sultanahmet Square...
He'll get wet if the rain does'nt stop...
One last drink, you and I...
Istanbul has no equal anywhere.
'Her sparkling air, her limped water give
a new dimension to the soul...'
So sang
Master Nedim, the poet, so he sang.
tr. by Nermin Menemencioğlu