MEDÎNE
Medîne is a poet. Though she hasn't written any poems since she got married and had her children, she speaks, moves and lives with the quiet, elegant, thoughtfulness of a poet.
Medîne was one of 17 children, the youngest daughter of Edule, and her and her sister were the only two girls surrounded by a house full of boys. She was quiet but fiercely smart and turned some of her frustrations at the limits and restrictions being placed on her and the women around her into poetry and writing.
She finished school and wanted to study at university, to follow her love of reading and ideas but her father refused to let his daughter study further and instead insisted she get married. The poem pictured and translated below represents her heartache at losing this opportunity.
EMRO
Lo emro tû li kûde derî?
Wek çemê Firatê diherikî û derî
Carekî na zivirî û li paş xwe ve nanêrî
Lo emro tû li bin destî
Kêm nebû ji ser te şer û fedî
Tû li bejna minî ez ne xevdî
Lo emrê çarde salî
Te firotim yekî emrê wî şêst salî
Tû li bejna minî ez ne xevdî
Lo emrê pîr zilm dide
Te xêr ji xwe nedî
Tû li bejna minî ez ne xevdî
—
ÖMRÜM
Ömrüm neredesin?
Fırat nehri gibi akıyor gidiyorsun
Bir kere dahi dönüp arkana bakmıyorsun
Ömrüm esirsin
Kavgalar ve ayıplar üstünde eksik olmadı
Sen bedenimdesin ama sahibi ben değilim
Ey 14 yaşındaki ömrüm!
Beni altmış yaşında birine sattın
Sen bedenimdesin ama sahibi ben değilim
Hey! Yaşlı ömür zulüm verir
Kendinden hayır görmedin
Sen bedenimdesin ama sahibi ben değilim
—
MY LIFE
Oh my life, where are you/how have you past?
You are flowing like the Euphrates River
Without even looking back.
My life, you are under prison.
Full of fights and shame.
My youth, you reside within me but I do not possess you.
Oh, my 14 year old self!
You sold me to a man of 60 years.
My youth, you reside within me but I do not possess you.
Oh, midlife brings hardship and tyranny
I cannot find enjoyment in my life.
My youth, you reside within me but I do not possess you.
Medîne hasn't lost the poetry but has shifted its expression into caring for her family, the food she cooks, her home, her children, and her unfailing ability to find beauty and poetry in all the world around her.
Medîne lives in an apartment with her husband and 3 children in the town of Kızıltepe, a city outside Mardin, quite near to the Syrian/Turkish border. Like many others, she keeps songbirds as pets, bringing a small piece of the natural world into the stark, high-rise apartment complex where she and her family make their home.
