Translation of the song lyrics İstanbul - Mustafa Sandal

İstanbul (original)

Ortaköy'de seni ilk gördüğüm yer
Yağmur gözlerin ıslak yaşlı
Kaderinde ben varım sanmışım
Yanılmışım çok yaralanmışım
Yolda gördüğün o yaşlı çift gibi
Ellerin elimde yaşlanacaktık
Kadere bu aşkı ben yazdıramadım
Teselliymişim ben aşk olamadım
İstanbul gibi ruhum
Hem karışık hem duru
Bakışların rüzgarlı
Gülüşünde güneş var
Kalbimden atamadım
O yağmur kokunu
Gittiğin günden beri
Kalbim ağır yaralı
İstanbul gibi ruhum
Hem karışık hem duru
Bakışların rüzgarlı
Gülüşünde güneş var
Kalbimden atamadım
O yağmur kokunu
Gittiğin günden beri
Kalbim ağır yaralı
İstanbul İstanbul
Ortaköy'de seni ilk gördüğüm yer
Yağmur gözlerin ıslak yaşlı
Kaderinde ben varım sanmışım
Yanılmışım çok yaralanmışım
Yolda gördüğün o yaşlı çift gibi
Ellerin elimde yaşlanacaktık
Kadere bu aşkı ben yazdıramadım
Teselliymişim ben aşk olamadım
İstanbul gibi ruhum
Hem karışık hem duru
Bakışların rüzgarlı
Gülüşünde güneş var
Kalbimden atamadım
O yağmur kokunu
Gittiğin günden beri
Kalbim ağır yaralı
İstanbul gibi ruhum
Hem karışık hem duru
Bakışların rüzgarlı
Gülüşünde güneş var
Kalbimden atamadım
O yağmur kokunu
Gittiğin günden beri
Kalbim ağır yaralı
İstanbul İstanbul

İstanbul (translation)

The place in Ortaköy where I first beheld your face,
Rain veiled your eyes—wet, ancient, sorrow-laden,
I fancied myself inscribed in the margins of your fate,
But I was deceived, and now I bleed beneath my wounds.
Like those timeworn lovers glimpsed upon the road,
Our hands entwined, we would have ripened into age,
I could not force the fates to carve our love in stone,
Merely solace was I, not love’s own burning star.
My soul, a map of Istanbul’s labyrinthine gloom,
A tangle—yet at moments, crystalline and pure.
Your glance—a flurry, laden with unsettled wind,
Sunlight makes its dwelling at the corner of your smile,
From my heart I could not banish
That wild perfume of rain distilled in you,
Since the hour your footsteps faded
My heart is heavy—festering, battle-scarred.
My soul, a map of Istanbul’s labyrinthine gloom,
A tangle—yet at moments, crystalline and pure.
Your glance—a flurry, laden with unsettled wind,
Sunlight makes its dwelling at the corner of your smile,
From my heart I could not banish
That wild perfume of rain distilled in you,
Since the hour your footsteps faded
My heart is heavy—festering, battle-scarred.
Istanbul, Istanbul—
The place in Ortaköy where I first beheld your face,
Rain veiled your eyes—wet, ancient, sorrow-laden,
I fancied myself inscribed in the margins of your fate,
But I was deceived, and now I bleed beneath my wounds.
Like those timeworn lovers glimpsed upon the road,
Our hands entwined, we would have ripened into age,
I could not force the fates to carve our love in stone,
Merely solace was I, not love’s own burning star.
My soul, a map of Istanbul’s labyrinthine gloom,
A tangle—yet at moments, crystalline and pure.
Your glance—a flurry, laden with unsettled wind,
Sunlight makes its dwelling at the corner of your smile,
From my heart I could not banish
That wild perfume of rain distilled in you,
Since the hour your footsteps faded
My heart is heavy—festering, battle-scarred.
My soul, a map of Istanbul’s labyrinthine gloom,
A tangle—yet at moments, crystalline and pure.
Your glance—a flurry, laden with unsettled wind,
Sunlight makes its dwelling at the corner of your smile,
From my heart I could not banish
That wild perfume of rain distilled in you,
Since the hour your footsteps faded
My heart is heavy—festering, battle-scarred.
Istanbul, Istanbul—