THERE'S SOMETHING I HAVE LEARNED FROM WHAT I'VE LlVED There's something I have learned from what I've lived: lf you're to live something, live it to its fullest Your beloved should fall exhausted from your kisses You should fall exhausted from smelling a flower One can watch the sky for hours Can for hours watch the sea, a bird, a child To live on earth is to mingle with it Growing roots that cannot be eradicated When you hug a friend you should hug him vigorously You should fight with all your muscles, body, passion And once you stretch out on the hot sand You should rest like a grain of sand, a leaf, a stone One should listen to all the beautiful music on earth So as to fill all his being with sounds and songs One should dive into life as if Diving from a rock into an emerald sea Distant lands should lure you, people you do not know You should burn with desire to read all the books, to know all the lives You should not exchange for anything the pleasure of drinking a glass of water All the joys should fill you with the yearning to live And you should live grief also, with honor, with all your being For grief also, like joy, matures a person Your blood should mingle with the great circulation of life In your veins must circulate the eternal fresh blood of life There is something I have learned from what I've lived: If you're to live, live big, as if you are mingling with the rivers, the sky, the whole universe For what we call a life span is a gift to life And life is a gift to mankind
LOVE IS FOR TWO The wind changes direction Suddenly the leaves fade The boat at sea loses its way Searches for a port in vain The smile of a stranger Has stolen your beloved from you The poison accumulating inside you Will kill itself only It is death which is lived alone Love is for two Not a single trace is left From nightlong lovemakings Thousands of years away is The skin you've touched a thousand times The poems you could have written Are written and done with It is death which is lived alone Love is for two No consolation to you Are the songs you know Pain is unchained Waters flow backwards Even if you draw your love like a dagger It serves only to kill it The wayward bird of love Has flown away with no warning It is death which is lived alone Love is for two You're simply a lost song Consumed and degraded A child weeps in your dreams As the night brushes against the windows For no butterfly Lives its love alone No insect is alone No bird is alone when in love It is death which is lived alone Love is for two translated by Suat Karantay