He received his secondary education at the Kuleli Military High
School (1933) in Istanbul. After receiving his higher education at
the Military School (1935), he joined the military as an officer,
however later, he resigned from the military of his own will in
1950. He worked at the Ministry of Labor (1952-1960) and then
retired from that position. He directed the Kitap publishing
house and edited the journal TürkçeKültür Haftası, Yücel, Aile, Gençlik,
and Türk Dili. He was greatly influenced by Necip Fazıl and
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and in his earlier poems, Dağlarca explored
several themes including spirituality, eternity, and God. Later he
concentrated on the poverty of villagers and their resulting
alienation from society. POETRY: Havaya Çizilen Dünya (1935),
Çocuk ve Allah (1940), Daha (1943), Çakırın Destanı
(1945), Üç Şehitler Destanı (1949), Toprak Ana (1950),
Aç Yazı (1951), İstiklal Savaşı: Samsun'dan Ankara'ya
(1951), İstiklâl Savaşı: İnönüler (1951), Sivaslı Karınca
(1951), İstanbul: Fetih Destanı (1953), Anıtkabır
(1953), Âsû (1955), Delice Böcek (1957), Batı Acısı
(1958), Mevlâna'da Olmak (1958), Hoo'lar (1960),
Özgürlük Alanı (1960), Cezayir Türküsü (1961), Aylam
(1962), Türk Olmak (1963), Yedi Memetler (1964),
Çanakkale Destanı (1965), Dışarıdan Gazel (1965),
Kazmalama (1965), Yeryağ (1965), Vietnam Savaşımız
(1966), Açıl Susam Açıl (1967, poems for children),
Kubilay Destanı (1968), Haydi (1968), 19 Mayıs Destanı
(1969), Vietnam Körü (1970, epic-play), Hiroşima
(1970), Dört Kanatlı Kuş (1970, selected poems), Malazgirt
Ululaması (1971), Kuş Ayak (1971, poems for children),
Haliç (1972), Kınalı Kuzu Ağıtı (1972). (1960-1964).
CORPSE
In the street where there is no Imam
There I shall die.
Let no one see how beautiful
Are my feet, my hair, and all I am.
Free and clear in the name of the dead
A fish in unknown seas.
Am I not a Muslim? Yes indeed
But I don't want a crowd.
Let them not dress me in white winding-sheets
Let not my obscurity be gashed in the air
Let them not swing me from shoulder to shoulder as we go
For all my limbs are day-dreaming.
They cannot catch my parting from this life
In any place of prayer.
Let them not, let them not wash my body,
For madly I love my warmth...
Translated by Bernard Lewis
ENDLESS SILENCE
I am like a brother to you well yes you can tell me
How you got married
How you stopped loving one night
All right you can tell me
And then in the days of that old photograph
Your Mother had not gone mad yet
Your hair was golden as it caressed your white shoulders
All right you can tell me
You used to laugh a lot
At trees
You were a sylph the forest kept you awake when it sprouted
All right you can tell me
Then you ran away from home
To thoughts solitude sleep death
Stark naked among the ruins of a fire
All right you can tell me
A girl a boy stone shadows on the walls a girl a boy
Three hundred youths you had slept in a mountain shelter
Outside the snow was cold as wolves in your heart you froze
like the stone age
All right you can tell me
Look tomorrow I am leaving for another darkness
Like cemeteries I am silent mournful deaf
Yes you no longer have faith in love yes you will love no
one ever again
All right you can tell me
Translated by Talât Sait Halman
STATUS REPORT
I have the honour to report; the skies
are far away again today. The stars
have gone, men have begun to work
and furthermore, the sun has risen again.
Once more the waters have caught fire
the sheen has vanished from the leaves
the flowers have opened as they did yesterday
and the unfailing wind is mild again.
Once more we have escaped the curse of night
the ancient greeting has descended on the houses
the sea has turned blue again and some ships have sailed
away.
Translated by Bernard Lewis
WORLDWIDE
Here or in India or in Africa
All things resemble each other.
Here or in India or in Africa
We feel the same love for grains,
Before death we tremble together.
Whatever tongue he may speak,
His eyes will utter the meaning.
Whatever tongue he may speak,
I hear the same winds
That he is gleaning.
We humans have fallen apart.
Boundaries of land split our mirth.
We humans have fallen apart.
Yet birds are brothers in the sky,
And wolves on the earth.
Translated by Talât Sait Halman
[From An Anthology of Turkish literature, Edited by
Kemal Silay]
