I am Orhan Veli
"The poor Süleyman Efendi,"
The originator of that famous line.
I heard that you are curious
About my private life.
Let me tell you:
First of all, I am a man, meaning
I am not some circus animal.
I have a nose, I have ears,
Though not particularly well-shaped.
I live in a house,
I work at a job.
I don't carry clouds over my head,
Nor do I bear the seal of prophecy on my back.
I am neither as modest
As the King of England,
Nor as aristocratic
As the former stable boy of Celâl Bayar1.
I love spinach,
And I adore puff pastries.
I have no desire for wealth or property.
I swear, I don't.
My closest friends are
Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet.
And I have a lover, highly esteemed;
But I can't reveal her name,
Let the literary historians figure it out.
I also engage in trivial things,
The only unimportant thing I don’t engage in
Is to busy myself with rotten poems.
Who knows,
Maybe I have a thousand other quirks.
But is there really any need to list them all?
They're all pretty similar to these.
Orhan Veli
Translated by: Mehmet Barın Erturan
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