THE MIDDLE EAST: A VOLCANO

Orders inflaming the deliriums,
With your hundred thousand
Treasons – our lesson is to triumph.
Angels of death in black veils
Their stars washed-out in the halo of the moon.
You planted mines in my soul,
You bragged about your bloody rivers.
Nature is seething with disgust.
You brought on avalanches
With your hundred thousand.

Moons bathing in the waters of the sun.
Can poison turn into honey?
The feasts and weddings were shared,
The songs were shared;
You changed the ways.
With your wretched black veils
You brought on avalanches
With your hundred thousand.

Grandchildren of Adam and Eve
Are turning one by one
The dirge-written pages of history;
The progeny of victorious martyrs.
Can poison turn into honey?
Those homes and those hearts are mine.
You brought on avalanches
With your hundred thousand.

The goats destroyed the saplings,
Our history became arid.
The horizon is about to brighten up.
Come on shepherd play your flute,
Let our hands blossom.

My Memets cannot go back to their kids
Villages were erased from the map.
An avalanche fell into their lives,
But one day it will also fall on the guns.
Come on shepherd play your flute,
Let our hands blossom.

Oğuz Tansel
Translated by Nilüfer Mizanoğlu Reddy
World of Tales, Elips Kitap, 2012