Contentment By Rüştü Onur

  Translated from the Turkish by Hüseyin Alhas and Ulaş Özgün 

No harm would I pose
To the bee in its hive
To the bird in its nest;
I live in my own world
Under my hat.
It is my contentment that makes
Me smile without reason on the streets;
It is my heart,
The source of this raving frenzy.
I am not silent, I can’t keep quiet
Like the dead beneath the dirt
In the midst of this sweet world. 

~ from Poetry (March 2022)