MY UNFORGETTABLE ONE

ARIF, AHMED (1927-1991)


You bloomed,
Blue and green,
In my loneliness.You bloomed,
Bright red, speckled and pure;
I could rise above griefs and treasons.
To go,
To go into exile in your eyes.
To be locked up,
To be locked up in the cage in your eyes.
Wherever they may be!
It isn't "To be or not to be,"
Or "Cogito ergo sum" either;
The real business is to understand the inevitable:
The avalanche that cannot be stopped,
The stream that flows forever.
To drink,
To drink the moonlight in your eyes.
To attain,
To attain life's miracle in your eyes.
Wherever they may be!Since your soul was concealed within my soul,
When the executioner tightened the rope,
It was our love that flowed into the night,
Instead of blood.
To feel,
To feel the gallows in your eyes;
To become silent,
To become silent in your eyes;
Those razor-sharp
eyes of yours.


 MY UNFORGETTABLE ONE
Published in An Anthology of Turkish Literature, edited by Kemal Silay

Ahmed Arif (1927 Diyarbakır -1991) was a Turkish poet of Kurdish descent.

Ahmed Arif has studied philosophy at Ankara University. He has been arrested on political grounds in 1950 and spent time in prison till 1952. Published in various literary journals, his poems were widely read due to their original lyricism and imagery influenced by Anatolian folk cultures. He has published only one collection of poetry: Hasretinden Prangalar Eskittim (Fetters Worn Out by Longing/1968) – a volume which has gone through a record number of printings.