Long Slavic 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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Silence reigns supreme in my reich

No don (except me)
doth trumpet within the aborted
barren reach of freedoms within expansive realm,
I annexed courtesy manifest destiny,
which peoples now inhabiting said jurisdiction
circumscribed by following coordinates -
Latitude: 40° 16' 22.20"...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV Part Two
                 II

The first signs reek tell-tale
Buffer-to-buffer...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV
 Part One                     ...

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Eminent domain, manifest destiny, usurpation...

Maternal grandfather of mine
long since passed among the living;
He left his Motherland 
before onset of Holodomor,
a policy of the Soviet Union 
aimed at the destruction 
of the Ukrainian nation,
the 1932–1933 genocide...

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I am a singular event 
Occupying a particular span of time. 
I am a concrete mystic 
And an incurable skeptic 
Seeking an approximation 
Of peace and domestic tranquility. 
I am a Slavic soul brother 
Living...

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Eminent domain, manifest destiny, usurpation...

Russian soldiers in general
and Vladimir Putin in particular
perpetrate outright injustice
against Ukrainian population.

Impossible mission to comprehend
the mindset of belligerent, egotistical,
indignant, NeoNazi, tsarist
self anointed totalitarian zealot.

Gross violation of human rights
blatantly carried out
courtesy diabolical...

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It caters to an arrogance of hate
when war becomes a method of despite.
Through vile contempt, he seeks to cultivate
a dogma that defines inhuman blight.
The devil’s plan has given due consent
to let annihilation be the goal.
Let...

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When giants hide their heads beneath the sand,
the body lies unshielded from the Sun.
‘Tis but a hedge to seemingly withstand
the winds of war that nothing will out run.
‘Tis opportune for those that seek to rise...

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A blitzkrieg wipes your innocence away
and only heaven’s hand can help you now.
Your counterparts lie trepid to the fray,
for they can sense the wolfen on the prowl.
Oh dear Poland, there’ll be no recompense
as death, unbridled,...

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A new command would counter their attack
to stay the storm that harkens at your door.
‘Twould be a feat that stunned the iron pack
for nothing dared defy the wolves before. 
And though his pack could see...

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Cabbage grew ears in a silver basin. How rare! Wow! Exclusive is extremely experienced erotic erogenous errors but tremors can often be counted in the folding, unfolding and refolding of long heavy curtains. A lengthy...

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Yahya Kemal Beyatli translations

Yahya Kemal Beyatli (1884-1958) was a Turkish poet, editor, columnist and historian, as well as a politician and diplomat. Born born Ahmet Âgâh, he wrote under the pen names Agâh Kemal, Esrar,...

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The latter classified as a voivode
(prince) of Wallachia
(part of modern Romania).
Surrounded by enemies
that included the Hungarians,
the Ottomans, his younger brother,
and Walachian nobility,
Vlad employed extremely
cruel gruesome measures
to inspire fear in those
who opposed him.

He earned his nickname
by...

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ALLOWED    HIM    NO   LATITUDE


Andy, professional cartographer, adored his maps,
Valued them more than anything perhaps
As any cartographer would
As  all cartographers should  -
Lovingly drawing his Italy, ...

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They suddenly barged in their tanks and trucks
Covered in various armaments of war.
Their vehicles droned, piercing the silence,
Cutting deep wounds in that fertile land,
And desecrating the once sacred ground.

Rockets flew like meteors across the skies;
Bullets...

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The fattest land mass within the borders of Europe
is also a mother with an extremely fertile womb
to once go third in the global grain export.
Sitting on a ground blessed with hidden treasures,
it has unfortunately been...

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In the very beginning 
I could see only the sea
It was extremely deep
Almighty blue
It was free
In the very beginning
I was like a blue deep sea
When Lada came to me
Lada came

Lada gave  me a place...

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From predawn birth, you dwell alone,
Preferring deep shadowland over light.
So much easier to conceal what is shown,
Nascent ember forelimbs that daunt your sight.

With growth in undying murk, and wings in flames
In brilliant reds, yellows, golds...

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Off to Starbucks for my spot of Teavana Earl Grey Tea
I am Blessed! Princess Rebecca this morning, I do see
A quick gaze at her, oh my she looks even more sexy
In The Kingdom By The...

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Ukranian National Anthem

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

1. Ukraine is not yet dead,
nor its glory and freedom,
Luck will still smile on us,
young brothers.
Our enemies will vanish,
as the dew does in the sunshine,
and we, brothers,
will be masters in our own...

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The Lunch 
Today I ate the worst meal for years, dry fried liver
and burnt onions with a salad that tested of fish because
the cook had used a fish knife to cut the lettuce.
I didn`t like...

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My pools of words are not limited to English.
I was a missionary in France and Belgium, so learned French.
I studied Spanish in college for several years afterwards.
The US Army had me learn Russian during the...

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The tearaway, youthful runaway
Running for a lifetime, blocked out
Brick wall, but, those same
Old demons stuck to your back
Demon wings like barnacles
To the hull of your iron heart
Beating under apron strings

Ever since "Daddy" left, Electra
You have...

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In the southern mountains of Bulgaria  
A gruesome discovery had been made                      ...

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