Hey good people, it's been a WHILE. Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1884-1958) was born on the second of December in what is today North Macedonia's capital Üsküp/Skopje. His real name is Ahmet Agah. His father İbrahim Naci was the mayor of Üsküp and his mother was the niece of Lefkosçalı Galip, a famous Divan poet. He lost his mother at a young age. He goes to France in 1903 and meets with prominent figures of the Young Turks. In 1904 he enrolls in the political science program of Sorbonne University where he was influenced by the lectures of Albert Sorel. He returns to Istanbul in 1912. He teaches various classes in Istanbul University from 1915 to 1923. He attended the Lausanne peace conference as an advisor to the Turkish side. He moved to Ankara in 1923. He served four terms in the Turkish parliament. He was on many diplomatic missions as a minister plenipotentiary in Warsaw (1926) and Madrid (1929) and as a high ambassador to Pakistan in 1948. He died of an intestinal disease in Istanbul Cerrahpaşa Hospital on 1st of November 1958. His style can be described as a bridge between Classical Turkish/Divan poetry and modern Turkish poetry. As always if you want to read more about him, there's an article about him and his works in Ataturk Encyclopedia, as well as the original Turkish version of the poem at the end of the blog.

Warning: I am not a professional translator, so there are bound to be some errors, please correct me if I make a mistake.

AKINCILAR*

                We were cheery as children in thousand horse raids

Thousand horses, we defeated an army larger than giants that day

Roared the white helmeted Beylerbeyi**: forward!

On a summer night, in groups we crossed the Danube

We attacked like thunder to a district from seven flanks

Like thunder in roads Turkish horsed trod

One day our horses galloped all their strength

We flew over seven skies with that strength

We see today that roses blossom in heaven

That crimson memory still shakes in our eyes when we imagine

We were cheery as children in thousand horse raids

Thousand horses, we defeated an army larger than giants that day

*: Akıncı, or Akıncılar in plural, were light cavalry units in the Ottoman Empire that carried out attrition operations in border territories by organising raids and incursions into enemy territories.

**: A Beylerbeyi was an official appointed by the Ottoman state to govern a territory the size of a province. In peacetime, they were responsible for maintaining public order, public works and tax collection in the region. In times of war, they would raise troops and take part in military campaigns. The term ‘Beylerbey’ literally means ‘Bey of beys whereas' Bey means 'sir' or 'lord’.

Ataturk Encyclopedia: here

The original poem in Turkish: here