Dedicated to my favorite Turkish singer Ahmet Aslan 

The singer weeps over someone’s anguish, 

Someone’s or his own? Anyone’s guess. 

The people weep as the song goes on, 

Reflecting on their own pain. 

People from countries all over the World 

Weep, though different language they speak. 

They don’t need to translate Ahmed’s words, 

Translation is written all over his face. 

The singer laments someone else’s pain 

As if his heart weeps over his own. 

Weeps for those who felt that pain, 

For those who were unloved, 

For those who during long, lonely nights 

Talked to the moon of their loved ones 

For one sole reason that the loved ones 

Refused to listen to them. 

Somewhere far away, beyond the expanse of the ocean 

A lonely poet weeps in sync with the singer, 

Understanding not a single word of the song. 

Thus they weep together, singer and poet, 

In languages completely different 

About their anguish. 

The anguish of soul is written 

All over the singer’s face, 

In the voice that’s a gift from Heaven. 

The poet’s pain is reflected 

By his melancholy verse. 

Thus the two weep together without 

Understanding the song or the verse. 

Soul’s pain is the same for the people 

In different parts of the World. 

The more pain the words are expressing, 

The worse is continuing heartache. 

As if the joy cannot last forever. 

Not everyone can be touched 

By love’s heavenly blessing 

In order for their voices and words 

To linger on Earth for eons. 

So both of them are weeping 

When the birds are asleep on the branches. 

The moon sadly watches the ones, 

Loved by none, who’s eyes shed rivers of tears 

In the dead of the night when others 

Snuggle in each other’s embrace. 

By Liana Margiva 

Translated from Russian by Anatol Kardiukov