World Literature:
Ataol Behramoglu (Turkey)
When Leaving Town
The things recalled when leaving town
Are mostly little things
The grocer’s bill is paid
At the last moment, one runs into a distant acquaintance
What is a town and what is it
That a town leaves to a person
Dusty roads stretching on and on
End up with flat mountains
When leaving town, it’s a familiar thing
To leave a woman behind too
You would walk into the groves
Carrying her face with you
And always in the flowing of streams
Something that reminded you of the past
Was it because they were turbid
Or did summer quietly grow old at last
Summers, towns, and women
The acrid taste of leaving love behind you
Something all children
And all poets are living through
(Translated from Turkish by Prof. Walter G.Andrews)
