Unknown in the Days of Peace

Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca

Watercolour — rural house with trees

Beni kimseler görmez o barış günleri, Van’da tarlayımdır, Yozgat’da yolumdur.

· · ·

Bilinmem, görünmem, duyulmam,      sezilmem o barış günleri. Adana’da pamuk, Konya’da gölümdür.


No one sees me in the days of peace, I am a field in Van, I am a road in Yozgat.

I embroider kerchiefs, I weave carpets, I am green in Bursa, I am scarlet in Sivas.

I walk until midnight, I work until sunrise, I am the feet in Erzurum, I am the hands in İzmir.

I am not known, I am not seen, I am not heard,      I am not noticed in the days of peace. I am the cotton in Adana, I am the lake in Konya.

Translated by Rahmi Akçelik