Oktay Rifat (1914-1988)

He received his education in Political Science in Paris. Upon his return to Turkey, he worked at the General Directorate of the Press. He retired from his post as a lawyer for the State Railroads. His first success came with Garip, a collection of poems written in collaboration with Orhan Veli and Melih Cevdet. After the publication of this book, he rejected the traditions of court literature and turned to the sources of folk poetry. In the following years, he added irony and surrealist tones to local themes. POETRY: Garip (1941, in collaboration with Orhan Veli and Melih Cevdet Anday), Yaşayıp Ölmek: Aşk ve Avarelik Üzerine ŞiirlerGüzelleme (1945), Aşağı Yukarı (1952), Karga ile Tilki (1954), Perçemli Sokak (1956), Âşık Merdiveni (1958), İkilik (1963, second edition of Aşağı Yukarı and Karga ile Tilki), Elleri Var ÖzgürlüğünŞiirler (1969), Yeni Şiirler (1973), Çobanıl Şiirler (1976), Bir Cigara İçimi (1979), Denize Doğru Konuşma (1982). NOVELS: Bir Kadının Penceresinden (1976), Danaburnu (1980), Bay Lear (1982). OTHER WORKS: Birtakım İnsanlar (1961, play), Latin Ozanlarından Çeviriler (1963, translated poems), Yunan Antologyası (1964, translated poems), Kadınlar Arasında (1966, play). (1945), (1966),

BOYS

He died, he doesn't know that he is

                dead.

His hands are at his sides, they'll carry

                him away,

He cannot say: 'I will not go'.

He couldn't taste the sweets and cakes,

He couldn't even thank the friends

Who carried off his coffin.

Ah, his death is not like someone else's!

 

Translated by Bernard Lewis                 

THANKSGIVING

I must give thanks

To my boots and my coat.

I must give thanks to the falling snow

To today, to this joy...

Thanks for having trodden the snow

Thanks to the sky and the earth

To the stars whose names I don't know—

Praise be to water and fire!

 

Translated by Bernard Lewis 

SELF REVELATION

How hard is my ordeal!

I know no arithmetic

And I am employed in accounts.

My favorite dish is eggplant fried in oil

And it upsets me.

I know a freckled girl

I love her she doesn't love me.

 

Translated by Bernard Lewis

TO MY WIFE

Halls which are cool with you

Rooms which are light with you

A morning waking in your bed

To a day long with happiness.

 

We are halves of the same apple

Our day and night, our homes, are one.

The grass grows gladly where you step

Loneliness comes from the road where you've gone.

 

Translated by Larry Clark

 

[From An Anthology of Turkish Literature, Edited by Kemal Silay]