SONG OF THE PRISONER

How fearful it is to think of a bird
Flying to its heart’s content.
Is this the meaning of human life?
To be on a mountain top where no one ever set foot, no voice ever echoed,
To descend like a god into a wish-stone,
To bang the mountains in me one against the other;
To step aside like a heartless god;
To be longed for but not gone after,
To be gone after but not found.

Oğuz Tansel
Translated by Aysıt Tansel
World of Tales, Elips Kitap, 2012