Going to the meyhane to have a thrill,
Our friends sit on the raki sofrasi in goodwill.
Our cilingir sofrasi full of delish mezzeler so real.
Haydari, dolma, all the goodies
that need great cooking skill,
Ready and our lion's milk glasses pour with zeal,
Joyful we are and we throw a toast and eat our meal.
May our glasses be full and fill
Our hearts with love, and warmth to reveal.
May our glasses overflow and never spill.
May we always over love gather for refill,
Of kindness in our hearts, prayers and promises to fulfill.
May we drink to our health and never fall ill.
May we always to the top go and never slip downhill.
But above all,
May we always be invited and never have to pay the bill.
Author notes
First I would like to say that I do not encourage drinking alcohol as I myself do not drink, but here I am talking about a Turkish drink out of tradtion.
A meyhane (or mehana) is a traditional restaurant or bar in Turkey or the Balkans region. It serves alcoholic beverages (wine, raki, vodka, beer) with meze and traditional foods. It is analogous to a Greek ouzeri. "Meyhane" is composed of two Persian words: "mey" (wine) and "hane" (house). "Meyhane" therefore means a kind of place where alcoholic beverages can be drunk.
Raki (Turkish: rakı IPA: [rakɯ]) is a non-sweet usually anise-flavored apéritif that is produced by twice distilling either only suma or suma that has been mixed with ethyl alcohol in traditional copper alembics of 5000 litres (1320 US gallon, 1100 UK gallon) volume or less with aniseed.[1] It is similar to several kinds of alcoholic beverages available in the Mediterranean and parts of the Balkans, including pastis and ouzo. In the Balkans, however, raki refers to a non-anise-flavored drink made from distilled pomace, similar to Italian grappa, Greek tsipouro, Cretan tsikoudia, Cypriot zivania and Spanish orujo.[2]
In Turkey, raki is the unofficial 'national drink' and it is traditionally drunk mixed with water; the dilution causes this alcoholic drink to turn a milky-white colour, and possibly because of its colour, this mixture is popularly called aslan sütü (or arslan sütü), literally meaning "lion's milk" (a(r)slan is also used to mean strong, brave man, hence milk for the brave).
Meze or mezze (Arabic, مَزة, Greek mezé (μεζέ
, Bulgarian: мезé/mezé, Turkish meze, ultimately from Persian maze (مزه "taste, snack" [1][2]) in eastern Mediterranean is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often taken with arak or wine, similar to tapas of Spain or finger food. In other Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region (especially in Georgia), these dishes form part of any large-scale meal.[3] When not accompanied by alcohol, meze are known in the Middle East as muqabbilat (Arabic: starters).
In Turkey and Northern Cyprus meze are served along with rakı in establishments called meyhane or tavern. Turkish meze often consist of beyaz peynir (literally "white cheese"), kavun (sliced ripe melon), acili ezme (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), haydari (thick strained yoghurt like the Middle Eastern labne), patlıcan salatası (cold aubergine salad), kalamar (calamari or squid), enginar (artichokes), cacık (yoghurt with cucumber and garlic), pilaki (various foods cooked in a special sauce), dolma or sarma (rice-stuffed vine leaves or other stuffed vegetables, such as sweet peppers), and köfte (meatballs).
A contest entry
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Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Simple, and interesting. The explanation in your AN helps this make a bit more sense for me. It has a sense of simple pleasures about it, which is very nice. The one thing that throws me on the whole thing is the constant rhyming. I think this would make a fantastic drinking song or toast because of that.
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Am I glad you added some additional explanation in your author's notes cause I was really scratching my hair at the beginning of the poem/
Thank you for entering this contest!
Leander -
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I had to add it as it is
very difficult for non turks to understand the significance of that habit and drink
thank you so much for passing by
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i love this kind of poem that caries a rhythm of rising spirit and high morale within the realm of friendship...i really enjoyed it...thank you for sharing such a soaring poem...all the best...
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THIS IS VERY CUTE!!!
This just speaks so well of people getting together to share and be friends, very lovely.
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