Winter and Hidden Sorrow

Winter and Hidden Sorrow

The coldest days of winter have not arrived yet, but the longest nights are already here. Were the nice days of autumn not here just a few days ago? Let us remember that bygone autumn with a poem:

END OF SEPTEMBER

Days are getting shorter;
Past autumns are remembered
With all longing and desire
By elderly of Kanlıca town.

Our life is short in order to love
Even just only this neighborhood,
If only the summers didn't fade away,
The days didn't shorten.

Alas! We'll face the death,
It doesn't frighten us at all,
But leaving the homeland behind!
Ahh! This is so painful!

That there is no return
From that night of death to this shore,
Ahh! What a sad longing...
Worse than even death itself!

Yahya Kemal Beyatlı


How nicely did the poet describe his sadness at four levels. First, he feels sorry that the day ends and the evening appears. Then, he grieves for that the summer comes to an end...weeping. But the real concern, as he clearly declares, is the end of the life.
So then these three levels of sadness are:

If only clocks stopped ticking,
the sun never disappeared...
If only summers didn't fade away,
days didn't shorten...
If only years didn't pass by,
my life didn't go away...

As a matter of fact, there is one more sorrow in between the lines...a hidden sorrow: The end of the world is approaching, too...and there is the Day of Judgement. As if the poet adds:

If only there was no Day of Judgement,
no trial whatsoever...

But surely, clocks will continue ticking, summers will fade away, years will pass by, and there will be a Day of Judgement.

So then, if we would replace just three words of that lovely poem:

Alas! We'll face the death,
It doesn't frighten us at all,
But facing the Day of Judgement!
Ahh! This is so painful!