Hani derler ya,
Ben sensiz yaşayamam, diye.
Ben onlardan değilim.
Ben sensiz de yaşarım;
Ama,
Seninle bir başka yaşarım…
[Poetry and Image Source: Nazım Hikmet]
You know what they say:
“I can’t live without you.”
I am not one of them.
I’ll live also without you;
but
with you,
my life would surely be something else…
[Translation Source: Self]
May it be through Turkish, English or any other world language – how do you define “living”? How about “life”?
Filed under Reflections
Tagged as English, life, literary translation, living, love, Nazım Hikmet, poem, Poetry, Türkçe şiir, Turkish
Letter-Poems from a Beloved. Prose poetry in English. Inner Child Press International (May 5, 2020)
Canlarım, My Lifeblood. Poetry in Turkish and English. Inner Child Press International, Private Edition (December 2019)
this and that, a Hodgepodge of hülya’s . . . Poetry. Inner Child Press International (January 2, 2019)
Aflame. Memoirs in Verse. Inner Child Press International (August 2, 2017)
An Aegean Breeze of Peace. A book of poetry, co-authored with Demetrios Trifiatis. Inner Child Press International (October 12, 2015)
Trance. A trilingual poetry book with own translations between English, German and Turkish. Inner Child Press International (December 12, 2013)
Inner Child Press “Our Authors” Page
For An Aegean Breeze of Peace, see also:
I don’t know Hani, but I like what Hani said up top.
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My thanks for your visit and for liking this post. “Hani” is a phrase in Turkish that translates best – to my knowledge – to “You know” in the sense of the rhetorical question. The sentiment itself, as you surely know, originates from Nazım Hikmet Ran, the (Turkish born) poet and essayist who died in Russia in exile, all along yearning for his country of birth. A large number of his most widely known poems stem from those exilic years.
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