I have never learned what I am

For years I have sought myself
and have not found what I am.
Whether I be vision or dream,
I do not know what I am.

Perhaps a creature, or a weed
or a human being,
or the vegetation
one tends and reaps.
Or perhaps I am my appearance:
I have never found what I am.

Whether I am Leyla, or Mecnun
or the desert of their wound,
the bee, or the flower,
or the honey in the comb,
whether I am slave
that serves the beautiful,
I do not know, and have not learned.

All I have is Veysel, my name,
only the sound of which will remain.
I have searched for fifty-three years
and in no way learned what I am.


 

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Hiçbir Türlü Bulamadım Ben Beni by Aşık Veysel

Translated August 18, 2020

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