TAIL SONG

We can't come together, our ways are different
You're a butcher's cat, I'm an alley cat
Your food comes in a tin bowl
Mine is in the lion's mouth
You dream of love, I of a bone

But your way isn't easy either, brother
It's no easy job
To lick the man's hand every damn day

		 Orhan Veli Kanik

             Translated by Bernard Lewis (1982)