Succour

Notes

Notes on MEDET:

The word “medet” means help, assistance, but more in the sense of rescue or succour.

Seni medet bildim ben: “ben” means “me”, but the I is already in the verb “bildim” (from bilmek – literally means to know, bildim I have known). I have added “always” to keep the emphasis but that could be altered. “Me, I have known you as rescue” would be a rough literal translation).

“gibi” means “like”, and I had to move it: Like the stain of wine on the napkin, I scattered. On the napkin could also move to the next line, to stand with scattered. Same goes for the next one.

She purposefully uses the same word “dağılmışım” – scattered. But in Turkish, the tense using mış is indefinite past (a “heard tense”), so literally it means: “it seems I scattered”. You can use extra words in English to capture that meaning without having to use the verb “seem”.

There are three rhymes: ıslak (wet), parlak (bright), ağlak (tearful).

Sahaf means second-hand bookshop but since this is very redundant for this poem and its rhythm, you could use antique or drift shop.

Düşmek literally translates as “to fall”, but in this sentence, it does translate as “end up”. However, “düşmek” carries the feeling that the photographs are “falling”, like leaves.

Unlike the first verse “Seni medet bildim ben”, the last one is “Medet bildim ben seni”: the meaning is the same but the word order has changed:

I always took you as succour

As succour I always took you