THE SONG OF A LlZZARD PERHAPS - BELKİM BİR KERTENKELEYİM

THE SONG OF A LlZZARD PERHAPS

Perhaps I was a bit of a lizzard

in the wake of a ruined rain,

Perhaps I was the ugly side of the beautiful

or the handsomest of all things ugly.

If the sun's shadow could have run green,

I would have been the fastest viridian

sprinting in my mother's tadpole races.

Was I fork, was I knife, was my edge sharp enough;

out of a thousand excuses I moulded myself..

A restless boy, easy in his coming easy in his going

I was a fretting nest of festering fits

And perhaps I had trouble written on my every fingertip.

Burgled policemen blow their whistles,

Shrilling with fear I wet myself back and front.

The sky was a three-star colonel

to him I turned to air myself in my flashing nakedness.

A foul-mouthed, an unpleasant poet

I was once a crab in the war against the Muscovite.

I was easy, I was at home in both my eyes,

my colours were by a half-blind man seduced.

Well, village or town must not whimper when they fall,

I would be the one crying outside the city wall.

Chilldren were heard wailing for bread,

If an apple was needed I would appear one the scene.

Christmas night was a night of busy lament

To save myself I broke out of my ivory tower.

Who knows may be I was a feather in a bald man's hat,

a corn without colour or tassel to its name,

Sweet basil went sour because of me,

Mayhap I was a lusty yell blowing from who knows where,

I came either from next door or from Paradise

Mayhap I was a voice, soft or strong,

When perhapsness patrolled the streets

Maybe I was not even a perhaps.

Translated by Feyyaz Kayacan Fergar

BELKİM BİR KERTENKELEYİM

Belkim bir kertenkeleydim

piç edilmiş bir yağmurun serini

bir güzelin çirkiniydim

çirkinlerin en güzeli

yeşil koşsa güneşlerin gölgesi

ben en hızlı yeşiliydim

kurbağa yarışlarında annemin

çatal matal kaç çataldım kim bilir

bin dereden bir kendimi getirdim

haydan gelip huya giden bir huysuz

heyheyler içinde bir heydim

belkim yedi belkim sekiz belaydım

düdük çalar hırsızlanmış polisler

ben korkudan üstlerime işerdim

üç yıldızlı bir albaydı gökyüzü

karşısında önüm açık gezerdim

ağzı bozuk meymenetsiz bir ozan

rus cenginde çağanozdum bir zaman

iki gözüm iki koltuk-eviydi

mavilerim bir miyobun koynunda

kendi düşen köyler kentler ağlamaz

sur dışında ben oturur ağlardım

ekmek diye bağrışırdı bebeler

elma derler ben ortaya çıkardım

ağıtlarla kutlanırdı İsa-doğdu gecesi

fildişinden bir kuleydim yıktım kendimi

bilmem hangi keloğlanın fesiydim

bir püskülsüz sümbülteber tohumu

fesleğenler yaprak dökmüş şerrimden

bir naraydım kimse bilmez nereden

ya yakından ya uçmaktan gelirdim

belkim ince belkim kalın bir sestim

belkilerin kol gezdiği saatta

belkim belki bile değildim

Can Yücel