The days have grown short. The elders of Kanlıca
Are recalling the past autumns, one by one.
Our lives are too brief to love even this single neighborhood…
If only summers didn’t end slowly, if days didn’t grow short…
We drank this rare wine for years, yet never quenched our thirst…
For such joy—one lifetime is not enough, how unfortunate!
Death has fated, it does not frighten us;
But the pain of parting from home is hard to bear.
Never returning from death’s dark night to this shore,
Is an endless longing, even death cannot restore.
Translated by: Mehmet Barın Erturan
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