Brother, garbage sweeper,
Don’t sweep anyone’s hopes away
They’ve tossed into the streets...
Tears, you know,
Cannot smudge
Our Avenues...
Folks on the whole
Keep their regrets
All bottled up...
No you can’t guess
How they feel
When they don’t go outside...
Those garbage pails
You’ve emptied out for years
And years and years, are mute
Witness to your feelings...
So why allow anyone
Who thinks only of his stomach
To bother you?
Brother, garbage sweeper,
please don’t misunderstand
My words...
I never intended
To humiliate you ....
What’s the difference
Between us?...
Brother, garbage sweeper,
Don’t sweep anyone’s hopes away
They’ve tossed into the streets...
Tears, you know,
Cannot smear
Our Avenues...

© Üzeyir Lokman ÇAYCI
Paris, 10. 05.1999
Traduit par Yakup YURT en français
French free verse translated into English free verse
by Richard Vallance , 2002



SEVGI
RICHARD VALLANCE