an gelir / when the moment comes

[ilkin]

lyrics: attila ilhan
the poet's voice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov013LlJuu4
ahmet kaya's voice and music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26-s6HLFmss
(as far as i know, the song doesn't have an official video)

an gelir may mean either "a moment comes" or "when the moment comes." since the lyrics are about death, i preferred the latter.


an gelir
(when) the moment comes

paldır küldür yıkılır bulutlar
the clouds are torn down with great clatter

gökyüzünde anlaşılmaz bir heybet
an incomprehensible grandeur in the sky

o eski, o eski heyecan ölür
that old, that old excitement dies

an gelir biter muhabbet.
(when) the moment comes conversation (or love and affection) ends

şarkılar susar heves kalmaz
songs become silent, enthusiasm is lost

şataraban ölür.
şataraban dies (şataraban is a musical mode or scale [makam] in the classical turkish music)


şarabın gazabından kork
fear the wrath of wine

çünkü fena kırmızıdır
because it's badly red

kan tutar, tutan ölür
the blood holds, whoever it holds dies
(kan tutması: some people faint at the sight of blood or blood-like liquids. if such a person takes red wine as blood, he faints. it may even cause sudden and unexpected death. it's also a common belief that sometimes a victim's blood holds the murderer and the murderer sort of freezes and becomes unable to flee from the site of the crime, and gets caught.)

sokaklar kuşatılmış
streets are under siege

karakollar taranır
police stations are strafed

yağmurda bir militan ölür.
in the rain a militant dies.


an gelir
(when) the moment comes

ömrünün hırsızıdır
it's the thief of your/his lifetime

her ölen pişman ölür
everyone who dies dies in remorse

hep yanlış anlaşılmıştır
always was he misunderstood

hayalleri yasaklanmış
banned were his dreams


an gelir şimşek yalar
(when) the moment comes the lightning licks

masmavi dehşetiyle siyaset meydanını
the political arena with its deep blue terror

direkler çatırdar yalnızlıktan
pillars crackle of loneliness

sehpada pir sultan ölür
on gallows pir sultan dies
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pir_Sultan)

son umut kırılmıştır
kaf dağı'nın ardındaki
the last hope behind the kaf mountain has been broken now
(kaf is the legendary mountain where anka or zümrüdüanka, the mythological phoenix, lives, and where everybody gets an answer to his questions and finds a remedy for his troubles)

ne selam artık ne sabah
neither a hello nor a good morning any more

kimseler bilmez nerdeler
namlı masal sevdalıları
nobody knows where the famous legendary lovers are

evvel zaman içinde
kalbur saman ölür
once upon a time riddle and straw dies
(an allusion to the traditional beginning of a fairy tale telling. it begins as "evvel zaman içinde, kalbur saman içinde." literally, "in the old times, (when) the sieve is in the straw." "kalbur is a coarse sieve used to sift wheat from straw. normally the straw is in the riddle but this is the way it's said, or it may be that the riddle is in the haystack.)

kubbelerde uğuldar baki
baki sings in the domes (baki is a divan poet)

çeşmelerden akar sinan
sinan flows from fountains [for drinking water]
(sinan is the architect who built masterpieces like süleymaniye and selimiye mosques. the allusion is that he also brought water to istanbul by building aqueducts)


an gelir
(when) the moment comes

la ilahe illallah
there's no god but allah

kanuni süleyman ölür
suleyman the magnificent dies (literally, suleyman the lawmaker)

görünmez bir mezarlıktır zaman
time is an invisible graveyard

şairler dolaşır saf saf
tenhalarında şiir söyleyerek
poets stroll in its solitary places in rows(*) reciting poems
(*or innocently or gullibly -it's not possible to determine the poet's meaning)

kim duysa korkudan ölür
whoever hears dies of fear

tahrip gücü yüksek
saatli bir bombadır patlar
it's a high destruction capability time bomb, it explodes
(saatli bomba: literally, a bomb with clock)

an gelir
(when) the moment comes

attila ilhan ölür
attila ilhan dies