Translated by Jen Hadfield and Canan Marasligil.

Bejan Matur is the most illustrious poet among a bold new women’s poetry emerging from the Middle East. Her poetry engages directly and concretely with the struggles of her people, and yet there is also a mysticism in her writing, a closeness to nature, an embracing of mythology – a dialogue with God.

This poem and many others that appear in her PTC chapbook ‘If This is a Lament’ were translated by TS Elliot Award-winning poet Jen Hadfield and bridge translator Canan Marasligil, which you can buy from the PTC website.

This is part of our new rebranded weekly release: the Dual Poetry Podcast, one poem in two languages from the Poetry Translation Centre. As ever we will be releasing a translated poem each week.

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