POEM

Doppelte Nationaltätsmoral/Dual Nationality: A Moral Tale

by Zehra Çirac

Zehra Cirac
The socks
   red with a white star in a crescent moon
   the shoes black red gold
   are to many
   like a warm foot
   in cold shoe leather
   to others
   a double knot
   in
   a life only as long as a shoelace
   but for all that
   on hot coals

Translated by Oliver Pauley


Die Socken
   rot mit weißem Stern in Sichelmond
   die Schuhe schwarz rot gold
   für viele ist es
   wie ein warmer Fuß
   im kalten Schuhwerk
   für andere
   ein Doppelknoten
   in einem
   nur schnürsenkellangen Leben
   aber das
   auf heißem Boden

Translated by Oliver Pauley

This poem originally appeared in the October 1998 issue of Poetry.

October 1998 issue of Poetry Magazine

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