To The Reader Poem by Nilufer Dursun

Oh reader! Whom I do not know, I do not see,
I am dedicating and publishing these thee.
Dedicating to thee, because, -why should I conceal-
Thine eyes, that I neither know, nor see,
As they behold my poetry most willingly
Would perhaps pause at some point suddenly
And shed a few modest drops quietly...
I go along with my parting life with this hope.

Two or three tears of compassion... would be enough consolation;
It is those few tears that will remove the mourn
Off my troubled days that are elapsing tragically,
In this world of stirife, with all that misery.
Thou looked me with the most importial judgement of conscientious eye,
One, that looks from a far, without any expectation,
And with no obligation...How sincere,
In this tranquil glance upon the countenance of my poetry!

All these written and then forgotten things, have all been
Collected as a result of the attraction to this sincerity.
Who knows, perhaps one of them be a humble resemblant
To a sorrow of thine-Yes, to thy sorrow, since there is no on without it...
The poor mankind is destined to brook!
Even those who spend the 'best lives' are like the wretched
So far as the feelings go...
The whole mass is of the same nature!


(Poem: Tevfik FIKRET
Translated by: Aydın DAGPINAR)