WEEPING WILLOW

Your branches are droopy with longing,
You are deep in dark thoughts.
Why hold your head down? Did you lose your eyes?
Your shadow rests on soil, your thoughts on water.

You stand like a man of the soil,
Beloved tree, lend me your patience,
Fresh moonlight shines on your leaves,
You are not weary of life.

Do not disparage the dreams of good people,
Singing soulful laments at night,
Decent folk and rowdy pass along this road,
No one can stand longing only.

Your delicate branches
Are threads of embroidery, Ah! Beloved tree!
Tell no one,
Man’s suffering at the hands of man
Tortures my heart with grief.

Your branches are bewildering.
A lover’s closeness fills me in
Come my beloved, forsake everything,
As one would bread and water, I miss you.

Oğuz Tansel
Translated by Aysıt Tansel
World of Tales, Elips Kitap, 2012