Poem: Halt Traveller!

Tosun Saral · Post by **Tosun Saral** » 13 Nov 2005 12:12

To a Traveller!

If you enter the Strait of Dardanelles from Aegean Sea you will see on the right the Hills of Canakkale and on the left the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the Hills of Canakkale you will notice a warning in capital letters colored with white chalk " Halt Traveller!" This warns all people who desires to enter the Dardanelles without permission. In March 18th 1915 British and French tried to enter the dardanelles without permission and paid their desirte with blood and heavy losses. After that bloody fight a Turkish poet called Necmettin Halil Onan wrote the following poem. The poem is translated into English by Tanwir Wasti. published by the March 18th University Magazine 2003.

To a Traveller

Stop wayfarer ! Unbeknownst to you this ground
You come and tread on, is where an epoch lies;
Bend down and lend your ear, for this silent mound
Is the place where the heart of a nation sighs

To the left of this deserted shadeless lane
The Anatolian slope now observe you well;
For liberty and honor, it is, in pain,
Where wounded Mehmet (x) laid down his and fell

This very mound, when violently shhok the land,
When the last bit of earth passed from hand to hand,
And when Mehmet drowned the enemy in flood,
Is the spot where he added his own pure blood.

Think, the consecrated blood and flesh and bone
That make up this mould, is where a whole nation,
After a harsh and pitiless war, alone,
Tasted the joyje of freedom with elation.

(x) Mehmet is the commen name given to Turkish Soldier.

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1f632/c0e/

Kim Sung · Post by **Kim Sung** » 13 Nov 2005 13:49

Efendim Saral~ We have already a thread for War Poems. Please post this poem in this thread.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=135

Tosun Saral · Post by **Tosun Saral** » 13 Nov 2005 18:41

killchola wrote:Efendim Saral~ We have already a thread for War Poems. Please post this poem in this thread.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... &start=135

Dear Blood Brother Killchola, If it is possible to post the a WW1 poem "Halt Traveller" to a WW2 tread I will move it.
regards