If there is no purity and innocence within you;
You are not a child!
Unless your adolescence was frivolous and crazy;
You are not young!
If you are not carrying forward your mother’s prayers and your father’s legacy;
You are not a son!
If you loved but did not united with your beloved;
You are not in love!
If you were married but not happy;
You are not married!
If your son has not followed your shadow,
If your daughter has not trust you;
You are not a father!
You have longed for a lifetime with wishes;
You were not born!
If they ask, how was your life?
Say: I have never lived!
I’ve never experienced that!
I’m afraid of ironhorse I ride a gray horse
No hat on my head,
But I tie my hair with a handkerchief,
I do not know what a mirror is,
A feather is my ornament
If I love a woman, I gift her four horses.
Mountains are my home, rivers are my friends
I hunt in the forest, smoke tobacco
I believe in prophecy and worship great spirits
The earth’s mine, the sky’s mine,
what more do I desire?
The White Man’s dream does not overtake
Valleys where my mare’s hooves tread . . .
Mehmet Kurtoğlu, an award winning poet and journalist from Turkey, has published numerous works covering poetry, essay, biography, novel and play.
