THE CITY WILL COME TO YOU FROM AFAR to kavafisThe city will come to you from afarIt will come carrying a dark loveFrom the branches of a forlorn treeIt will come shaking its sorrow like mulberriesYears later at a misty morning hourIt will come to your door like a wounded horseFrom the dusty altar of paper and penIt will come tearing its white shroudAfter winning a hand lost in loveIt will come fro ...
THE CITY WILL COME TO YOU FROM AFAR
to kavafis
The city will come to you from afar
It will come carrying a dark love
From the branches of a forlorn tree
It will come shaking its sorrow like mulberries
Years later at a misty morning hour
It will come to your door like a wounded horse
From the dusty altar of paper and pen
It will come tearing its white shroud
After winning a hand lost in love
It will come from forgetting the past
From the saddle of the language with speedy letters
It will come in a phrase of sulky words
The city will come to you from afar
It will come to you passing through the multitudes
Translated by Nilüfer Mizanoglu Reddy
Sorrow of the Earth
So many raindrops collect in your weepy voice
the world is there when you turn into the street
time meets with daily life out there
the birds on your tired breast
are lively
the feelings of trees hide beneath their barks
the sky is in blues carried by its clouds
nobody knows where the wind will blow
we share a day half and half
between the earth and sky
there are so many sleepless trees
but the jungle is lonely at night
the rain waits for us to come back,
worried about itself and lost
as if it has risen from a daydream
Translated by Ilyas Tunc
Time and Mask
Time is also a mask of regrets,
Like a lost stain of ink that commits
The first sin on white sheets
Doors can\'t be locked from the front and back
Everyting is the same in the garden of memories
A body fallen into pieces, years spent in deceits
The poison leaks out of the ivy
You leave me in a starched shirt
I gather up many things, mostly dead bodies
But my own death will collect me one day
Time is also a mask of regrets,
Like a lost stain of ink that commits
The first sin on white sheets
I too flowed into you like pureness
Seas cracked, emptiness clung to my arms
I\'m a sunken ship devoid of passengers
The octopus without arms! how cruelly you strangled me
How bloodily you gnawed my brain!
I gave up writing
That red poem dramatized by loves
As your trains had no platforms to approach,
Lanterns gave no lights, silence was deaf,
I tried guns in the bazaars hopelessly,
Frisked myself from top to toe in vain
Time is also a mask of regrets,
Like a lost stain of ink that commits
The first sin on white sheets
Translated by Ilyas Tunc
biografia:
Tozan Alkan
Born in 1963, Tozan Alkan graduated from Galatasaray College and Bogaziçi University. He has been working as a lecturer at Istanbul University, Department of Foreign Language School. He is the editor-in-chief of Ç.N., Turkey\'s sole literary translation magazine.
His poems have been translated into many languages. He is a member of Turkish PEN, the Writers Syndicate of Turkey, and Turkish Authors Association.
Research-study:
A poet from Galata: Andre Chenier [Artshop Publications, 2007]
Poet\'s sinful Diary, [Ikaros Publications, 2008, with Seref Bilsel]
Poetry books:
Time and Mask [Donkisot Publications , 2002]
Early Evenings of Heart [Donkisot Publications, 2005]
And the Wind [Artshop Publications, 2007]
Selected Poems [Yasak Meyve Publications, 2009]
TRANSLATIONS:
Prose:
Anatole France, Balthasar [Pencere Publications, 2002]
Ezop, Tales [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2003]
Charles Baudelaire, Fanfarlo [Salyangoz Publications, 2006]
Poetry:
Lord Byron, Selected Poems [Broy Publications, 1999]
Victor Hugo, Selected Poems [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2003, Artshop
Publications, 2007]
Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2003,
ArtshopYayinlari,2006]
William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience [Bordo-Siyah
Publications, 2003, Artshop Publication, 2006]]
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell [Bordo-Siyah
Publications, 2004]
William Blake, Selected Poems [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2004]
Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2005]
Lord Byron, Selected Poems [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2005]
Dadaism and Tristan Tzara [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2005]
Songs of 1789 French Revolution [Bordo-Siyah Publications, 2005]
Dada in Paris, Philippe Soupault, [Artshop Publications, 2006]
D. H. Lawrence, Selected Poems [Artshop Publications, 2006]
William Blake, Prophetic Books 1, [Artshop Publications, 2006]
William Blake, Prophetic Books 2, [Artshop Publications, 2006]
tozanalkan@yahoo.com
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