Long Consign Poems

Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

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Rosalia - The Evil Black Witch of the Harz, Part Five

The Monseigneur knew that they must be successful in this venture as the “Lord’s Madmen” or face the very real possibility of eternal damnation, if...

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Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Modern English Translations of Turkish Poems

Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873-1936) was a Turkish poet, author, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the composer of the Turkish National Anthem.



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation...

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They had measured on close counts,
Before they began his dismount,
All flowers and scents were left behind,
It was only mud that came to mind,
He was a log of wood that had no use,
They were about to...

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I’m all out for In, Boys, I’m all out for In
I’ll not consign dear Europe to the bonfire or the bin
We’ve fought too many flippin’ wars to call this thing a day
And isn’t such division...

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That meanest looking old grey cat,
just cross my path, me ~ meaning that,
he'd crowd out all the fine cats play
to gobble up their food ~ then stray!

Then two doors down ~ a new guy came
quite...

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I had three of that particular thing,
One I had purchased some years back,
And was not using it as it was old,
Though it still did all that a new one could,
The other I had purchased because...

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I had three of that particular thing,
One I had purchased some years back,
And was not using it as it was old,
Though it still did all that a new one could,
The other I had purchased because...

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Life, where? Everywhere, never pulled back
Go on, live on, wildlife soars in the world,
Further, the ship swirls, sinks, vanishes.
A circular waterfall, something pulled me into the depths, 
a woman pulled me to death.


The spirit of...

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I am naked.
_bare_
my hands
(_)Whose trace are these wounds?
I am naked.
[naked]
prominent blue grooves,
- Green,
- Blue,
- Red!
Red whispers(./:)
on your skin
crawls
_my skin_
Is pale(.)
your skin(,/.)
Stretches
_sketch_
[sleepy]
- are you dead
- are you?
- you dead?
my skin(!/?)
I draw a line.
_grooves_
[groove]
are you (…/?)
Red pours.
Pours...

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I once joined the procession of colors and lost my heart
Till a wave colors distilled through night knocked me down dead.
Besides the mountain,  the midnight festival of colors is on.
Lying in my arms you...

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Strikes relentlessly thrashing
     (from all points
     encompassing me) assigned
unforgivingly, vehemently,
     witheringly, blind
ding figurative sight, then
    I finally craft a title,
then...

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"I don't have any talent for music, either to sing or play an instrument. But the lullaby I tune, puts my baby to sleep and am sure, it resonates and leaves soothing echoes in the...

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This (Numerical) Life

I am a number. I know this because you spend all evening asking me my age, as it is my birthday and we dine in lavish style. My name is forgotten; the eccentricities...

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“Should I leave the feelings”


Should I leave the light I desire

For i know it was equally dark and dry

And leave the happiness i have

When I am about to fly


I pray to God if for him

I...

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for George
"You always said you had little invisible friends,"
He wrote in a Christmas card one year, and Yes,
funny he would remember that.  I called them Shovel,
Hoe, and BicaBacaBoca, all of indeterminate gender,
like Arial in...

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I first noticed a change in Climate,
When my shoes started to outlast their laces,
Which I thought unusual at the time,
As I had come to think of it as an unwritten law,
Probably one of Murphy's,
That shoelaces...

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As my closed eyes open and the dream of my calves playing among the corals curtail,
I realize that my body is contiguiting the earth,
perhaps the shore,
because I can feel the sharps rays of the blazing...

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Joe Biden now rules our White House
Together with his 'doctor' spouse.
   His blunders, for sure-
   We have to endure;
To caring, he does not espouse.

Those mishaps, like names he misspoke-
For sure, were...

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Mankind, you're so proud and tall
You really think you know it all
And once you had discovered fire
to such great heights you did aspire

Once, gladly, of myself I gave
but now your plan is to enslave
Do you...

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The briny tears have dried
The sounding knells are stilled
The grieving crowd, dispersed
The parting pain, allayed 	

Benumbed lie the dead
Beneath the marble vaults
Bereft of power and prowess
Benighted and beaten.

The sun shall never cast its glorious rays
The...

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The Will Surrendered

" 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill 
his good purpose." Phil 2:13 NIV

Many do not surrender their will
To be guided and...

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The Mourning Morning 100 and 50 Years On

Robert Graves lies in Wilfried Owen’s grave ponders the War
to end all Wars that continue  with nothing else for us in store
and Barry Mc Guire sang summed...

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In my consign of living, nature in its fullness bends,
Creepers, climbers, insects and flies are, hence, in abundance;
House-flies relish our rooms, floors, beds, heads, faces, feet and food,
Ants are awesome! Butterflies, here, are auspicious and...

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I have the rhythm of a winding road
how do I consign myself to being confined
rows of poplar pillars prop
the rendezvous canopy beneath we meet
—I self-cajole on ooh-la-la afternoon 

yellow eyes; daffodils watching 
lean into gossip...

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