Love Is For Two

Ataol BEHRAMOĞLU

LOVE IS FOR TWO

The wind changes direction
Suddenly the leaves fade
The boat at sea loses its way
Searches for a port in vain
The smile of a stranger
Has stolen your beloved from you
The poison accumulating inside you
Will kill itself only
It is death which is lived alone
Love is for two

Not a single trace is left
From nightlong lovemakings
Thousands of years away is
The skin you've touched a thousand times
The poems you could have written
Are written and done with
It is death which is lived alone
Love is for two

No consolation to you
Are the songs you know
Pain is unchained
Waters flow backwards
Even if you draw your love like a dagger
It serves only to kill it
The wayward bird of love
Has flown away with no warning
It is death which is lived alone
Love is for two

You're simply a lost song
Consumed and degraded
A child weeps in your dreams
As the night brushes against the windows
For no butterfly
Lives its love alone
No insect is alone
No bird is alone when in love
It is death which is lived alone
Love is for two

Translated by Suat Karantay