About the translator: On the brink of the 200th Anniversary of Pushkin, Richard McKane opens his generous selection of Russian translations with a dozen lyrics of Pushkin. There follow Gumilyov, Akhmatova's poems to Isaiah Berlin, and, from this translator and poet - the book starts with 25 of his own poems to poets - Mandelstam, Pasternak, Aranzon, Sedakova and many other new voices. There is also a rich selection of the Turkish poets, including Hikmet and Rifat, and a few surprises from the Uzbek, Kazakh, Azeri, Danish and Greek. Richard McKane was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1947. A frequent traveller to Turkey in the 60s and 70s, he learned the language fluently and befriended many poets and writers. In 1978, he was the first non-US citizen to be awarded the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University as a writer. He has translated over 20 books from both Russian and Turkish. The first collection of his own poetry Amphora for Metaphors was published in New York and London in 1993 and his Turkey Poems was published bilingually in Istanbul. Whilst continuing to translate, he also works as an interpreter at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, in London.
All decays in vanity of vanities,
tracks of footsteps do not last long
and the winds of meeting will one day
carry away the scent of present times.
In moments is eternity,
in them are the end and hidden infinity!..Negar Hasan-Zadeh
Off the road, on my way by chance
I am a little lost ring in the dust.
Someone’s finger it would enhance,
some one’s fingers it wouldn’t fit.
I will find that dwelling place of love and warmth,
where once more I would burn and not burn out.Negar Hasan-Zadeh
There is a frozen seal of carefreeness
of lost desires in the mirror splinter,
desires tortured by the cruel word: Wait!
and by the tales of fruitless promises.
Life runs like sand through the fingers.
Don’t hurry... the last drop will be drunk.Negar Hasan-Zadeh