If You Were Not

If you were not... If I didn't see you for a moment,
Do you know what would happen?
Even if the sky, the sun were to forever vanish, perhaps the body
In this frozen night, would seek a solution to despair,
And finds it;
But is it possible to accustom
The soul nourished by all the suns and skies
To that darkness?...

If you were not... Finding you would be an impossible dream,
Would I survive, you ask?
If for a moment the stars were extinguished;
When separated from you, the gaze freezes, breaks,
How sad, life then becomes for both body and soul,
Would we survive losing you, alas, my heart,
This troubled heart of mine?

If you were not... This is a sincere confession indeed;
If you were not, I couldn't live:
Our connection is a pleasant agreement indeed;
But is it this connection that refrains my soul from crushing?...
In the evening
Against the sunset, I pondered this in silence:
It’s not the end of love nor weeping, but alas,
If life was only worth the despair!...

Tevfik Fikret

Translated by: Mehmet Barın Erturan
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