Long Turkish 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...

Read More

With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

Read More

What Kind of People Are We

In a Shakespearean sense of tragedy and doubt the well-used
“To Be or Not To Be” from Hamlet is not the question I shall
discuss in this narrative. Rather, I shall consider...

Read More

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...

Read More

Like the twelfth
juror in the play
I must say I am not
convinced
For I know a recipe
for trouble 
I have seen the
double standards
And I do not approve
this for Kenya
I will never approve
it, and neither
Would you, dear
friend of...

Read More

Turkish Poetry Translations I



Ben Sana Mecburum: "You are indispensable"
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch

You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you're like nails riveting my brain? 
I see your eyes...

Read More

Arni Kleftiko Stolen Lamb


The Cypriots and Greeks have a few differences,
And can argue a great deal,
But both agree when it comes to ‘Kleftiko”
It has forever been, the most delectable 
Traditional Greek meal,
That ever a bandit...

Read More

A psalm to solemnize pure tin forefathers/mothers...

Who didst unknowingly, unquestionably, 
and unwittingly script vitality
and the prologue to Thanksgiving,
(which theme poem initially written)
about three hundred and ninety seven years, 
and nine months after February third 1621,
yet...

Read More

PRELUDE
There has always been animosity between Greece and Turkey as far back in history as we wish to go.  Greece was occupied by the Turks during the Middle-Ages for almost 500 years.  My...

Read More

 ~ I - I Arrive in Glasgow ~

When I arrived in Glasgow town
I knew nary a soul
So tired I's nearly fallin' down
Yet I'd no place to go 

I wandered up Buchanan street 
In hopes...

Read More

Is ARANJUEZ a pining after the composer's mother ?

(Joaquin Rodrigo - 1901-1999 - who composed the " Aranjuez " concerto on piano in 1938/9 and which later was destined for the guitar and orchestra, turned...

Read More

What would this fat lazy house cat ask for Christmas you might ask?
No squeaking cat toys oh no, forget those cat nipped laced
Mice’s too, for it’s a Garfield Christmas my friend and only natures
Perfect creation...

Read More

I remember the first time I read a book,
then I went to the era of Robin Hook.


then eventually I used to become a character,
that I admired the most because of the chapter.


I have dined with...

Read More

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,...

Read More

Wise no adulation, dedication and gratification 
   not emphasized the other three hundred and sixty four days a year
question their role as consumed end product of taxidermist, 
   gnome hatter clucks...

Read More

The Australian Light Horse had rode all night
And the troopers were all spoiling for a fight
For they remembered mates lose on the fatal shore
When the Turks defeated the Gallipoli Invasion flaw

But Chauvel wanted to wait...

Read More

The trilateral group of nations is meeting with the Iranian president in Iran. In the past Iran would call upon Russia for help but now Russia is being sanctified by the rest of the world...

Read More

For this Turk Turku is a 1-horse
city but he has got to have horse
sense. He will not be as happy as a peacock in Turkey.
Hindi, the Turk word for turkey, is how we'll call this...

Read More

I've spoken with the rain, it explained it to you
It got upset with my sadness and made me cry
I've covered me with sadness, wailing / mourning a dirge
Do you hear the sound of the rain?

The...

Read More

Ben Sana Mecburum
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch

You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you’re like nails riveting my brain?
I see your eyes as ever-expanding dimensions.
You are indispensable; how can...

Read More

Tea Leaves On The Bosphorus

Seated at a table by the stirring water,
My eyes absorb the shore of Asia.
Minerets and aged worn stone
Stand haphazardly along the banks.
Istanbul is a lady with secrets
She'll lure you with her...

Read More

A strange claim
Of a man of passion
Of kindness
He said
Let the children come to me
For what man would refuse the smile
The innocence of a child
He parted his kindness
His wisdom
His love of all tribes
Animal and man, felt...

Read More

Threatening me directly in my face 
you want to appear bigger, you are not to be feared.  
Knowledge empowers....
With every breath I will speak out 
the world must know your type. 

I wont give...

Read More

It's in the evening time in June                            ...

Read More

But what of Aysin? She'd be here by three. 
What seemed to me the perfect metaphor 
(young Ankara was her, old "Stamboul", me) 
was not an easy drive - five hours, and more! 

It's midnight...

Read More