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The Moon Is Dark

Ahmed Arif and David Selim Sayers and Evrim Emir-Sayers1 min read
Old books and red papers with a black-and-white photo of a full moon over mountains, a red disc and dried flowers

by Ahmed Arif (Turkish original - Ankara, Turkey)by David Selim Sayers and Evrim Emir-Sayers (English translation - Paris, France)

THIS translation is of the poem “Ay Karanlık” by the Kurdish-Turkish poet Ahmed Arif (1923-1991). You can hear it performed by Ahmed Arif himself at this link.

Into the blueInto the blue steal your eyesInto the blue of a fireRaging against the windIf I’m blindIf I’m leaving behind all but youSo what if I’m through?This life is mine, this dream is mineStrangers have no clueCome, I say,The moon is dark…

If I end at your gateStarved as a curStripped as a snakeWounded and cursedWith my loving, my needMy insatiable greedWhat, then, could compete?Come what mayThe scribes all uniteMy sentence to writeCome, I pray,The moon is dark…

Bastards’ lairs to all my sidesThey look like friendsSmile like friendsLight their cigarettes off mineKiss my cheekLike worms they sneakBastards’ lairs to all my sidesTo all my sides, dead endsCraving for death in the leyliest night,Don’t stay away,The moon is dark…

Also by Ahmed Arif:

Thirty-Three Bullets

Literature

David Selim Sayers

David Selim Sayers is a scholar of Ottoman and Turkish Studies with a focus on history and literature. He is a co-founder and core faculty member of PICT.

Evrim Emir-Sayers

Evrim Emir-Sayers is a philosophy scholar who researches, teaches, writes, edits, and translates out of Paris, France. She is a co-founder and core faculty member of PICT.

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