Poetic-Verses from ATHANASE
Apollo, the Charmer of Wouns (English)
"Elini uzatiyorsun güne, ölgün saalteri kalmiş yalniz."
"You stretch out your arms to the day whose mortal hours are so solitary."
Kemal Őzer
You speak to the streets, the walls, the monuments,
To the summer winds that blow, clad with soft sandals of gold,
Upon the massive bronze faces of the workers.
You love the springtime smiles of young children,
The song of speckled tits, the joyful sirens of the tall boats
That journey from infinity to infinity.
The names of the people you cherish, light up each time
They brush your lips. They leave on your tanned face
Their divine semblance with the roses, with the glistening mother-of-pearl of the dawn.
And all your previous lifw transformed, a deep dream
Seizes your body with joyful trembling,
With enthusiastic cries and tragic fears.
And so your soul, at dusk, more lonely than the ancient mosques,
Bursts into tears, like a funeral singer,
Before the bloody outrages of time.
And sad as a villager's song
You hold yourself
On the serene threshold of my past life.
Then you disappear like the mists of rivers
Among the weeping willows' falling branches,
Sobbing:
"O my God, my God,
I have seen this night the fleeting trace
Of your shadowless steps
In the crimson brazier of my eyes.
O my Lord, my Master,
My savage grief,
My violent bliss!
Translated from the French of Athanase Vantchev de Thracy by Peter Hill
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Apollo, the Charmer of Wouns (English)
Apollo, the Charmer of Wouns (English)
