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THE WALNUT TREE
My head is a foaming cloud, inside and outside I'm the sea.
I am a walnut tree in Gulhane Park in Istanbul,
an old walnut tree with knots and scars.
You don't know this and the police don't either.
I'm a walnut tree in Gulhane Park.
My leaves sparkle like fish in water.
My leaves flutter like silk handkerchiefs,
break one off, my darling, and wipe your tears.
My leaves are my hands, I have a hundred thousand hands.
Istanbul I touch you with a hundred thousand hands.
My leaves are my eyes, and I am shocked at what I see.
I look at you, Istanbul, with a hundred thousand eyes.
And my leaves beat, beat with a hundred thousand hearts.
I am a walnut tree in Gulhane Park.
You don't know this and the police don't either.
1 July 1957, Balçik
tr. by Richard McKane