Slowly Lightening / Yavaş Yavaş Aydınlanan

 

by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, translated from the Turkish by Aysel K. Basci

 

From a mossy emptiness,

A slowly lightening

Underworld universe

Is pulling me to itself.

A star distance away,

Hazily and timidly,

Shapes dividing the time

Are awaking one by one.

 

Oh, crystal chandelier, lit instantly

By a single breath of silence!

In this mysterious trinity

The sky is getting closer to us.

 

The light's geometry

Is your garden of eternity.

Listen and you will hear

The voices of the beetles and the bees.

 

I know, no one can take

Successive drinks from the same fountain.

Every breath is like a farewell

From these familiar shores.


Against all odds,

Which dove’s wing

Built this palace

With its frothy flutter;

 

And which hand extended

This golden cup from an empty night,

As the days’ red fruit

Leaked from a thought?                                 

 

Oh, constantly changing things

At the doorstep of a moment!

This lightening is waiting to play                                                                              

At the bedside of every dream…


Yavaş yavaş aydınlanan

Bir deniz altı alemi,

Yosunlu bir boşluktan

Çekiyor kendine beni.

 

Bir yıldız uzaklığında

Uyanıyor birer birer

Ürkek bulanıklığında

Zamanı bölen şekiller.

 

Ey sükutun bir nefeste

Yaktığı billur avize!

Bu esrarlı müselleste

Gökler yakınlaştı bize...

 

Aydınlığın hendesesi

Sonsuzluk bahçendir senin;

Dinleyin geliyor sesi

Arılarla böceklerin!

 

Bilirim kimse içemez

Üst üste aynı pınardan,

Bir veda gibi her nefes

Alışılmış kıyılardan.

 

Hangi güvercin kanadı

Köpükten çırpınışında,

Bu sarayı tamamladı

Her tesadüfün dışında;

 

Ve hangi el boş geceden

Uzattı bu altın tası,

Sızdıkça bir düşünceden

Günlerin kızıl meyvası?

 

Ey eşiğinde bir ânın

Durmadan değişen şeyler!

Başucunda her rüyanın

Bu aydınlık oyun bekler…


Aysel K. Basci is a writer and literary translator. She was born and raised and Cyprus and moved to the United States in 1975. Her work has appeared in the Columbia Journal, Michigan Quarterly Review, Los Angeles Review, Adroit Journal, Aster(ix) Journal, Tint Journal, Bosphorus Review of Books and elsewhere.

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-1962) was a Turkish poet, novelist, literary scholar and essayist, widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature. He was a professor of aesthetics, mythology and literature at the University of Istanbul. Although he died more than 60 years ago, his writing and poetry remains very popular. 

 

Morning (Sabah)

 

By Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Translated by Aysel K. Basci

 

Open your window to the cool winds!

Look at that tree change at dawn

Watch the lightening of the horizon

Let your sleepiness glide from your eyes.

 

Allow the wind to play with your hair.

Don’t hide from it your silvery naked body

For it’s a different kind of spring.

 

Let captive lips touch and caress

Everything you have: neck, hair, breast

Since you are more beautiful than the night!


Serin rüzgârlara pencereni aç!

Karşında fecirle değişen ağaç,

Bak, seyret ağaran rengini ufkun

Mahmur gözlerinde süzülsün uykun.

Bırak saçlarınla oynasın rüzgâr.

Gümüş çıplaklığı bir başka bahar

Olan vücudunu ondan gizleme.

Ne varsa hepsini boyun, saç, meme,

Esirden dudaklar okşasın sevsin

Mademki geceden daha güzelsin!


Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (1901-1962) was a Turkish poet and novelist, widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature.

Aysel K. Basci is a writer and literary translator. Her work has appeared in the Columbia Journal, Michigan Quarterly Review, Los Angeles Review, Critical Read, Aster(ix) Literary Journal, Tint Journal, Bosphorus Review of Books and elsewhere.