Halil İbrahim Sofrası [English translation]

When human beings had known their limits

And hadn't yet spoken maliciously

Hadn't yet looked at other’s honour venomously*

What a table was set in the name of Abraham

A saucepan in the middle

No one knows whether it's empty or filled

What a table was set in the name of Abraham

A saucepan in the middle

No one knows whether it's empty or filled

Friends, please sit down at the table of Abraham

When the fork, knife, spoon hadn't yet been invented

When the gift of a ram for Ishmael hadn't yet been sacrificed

What a fight had just broken out for the sake of fortune

Give the cover, take the handle*

No one wonders about the sacrifice*

What a fight had just broken out for the sake of fortune

*Everyone tried to make a profit

But no one wonders about the sacrifice

Friends, please sit down at the table of Abraham

Several years lasted effort for gaining a proportion of the profit

The fight only for a single piece of dried bread

I sometimes keep looking at this lesson learned picture

Some of them are out for sweet dessert

Whereas there is no salt for the other ones

I sometimes keep looking at this lesson learned picture

Some of them are out for sweet dessert

Whereas there is no salt for the other ones

Friends, please sit down at the table of Abraham

Blameless and perfectly happy people

Please to the seat of honour

Those who serve other humankinds slavishly

To the stone mattress for a lifetime

If you get your desires under control

You will sit on your throne comfortably

If you blindly plunge your spoon in

It depends on how lucky you are

Those who have strong fists and are lionhearted*

Support a family and don't know what's earning illegitimately

You're also welcome with us

Join us friends

Barış says: Even if you're surrounded with golds, silvers and stones

Even if toadies stand around you to kowtow to you

Don't esteem the stem, handle or cover, my friend*

An empty saucepan doesn't have its place on this table

*Don't esteem the appearance, my friend

An empty saucepan doesn't have its place on this table

Don't be fooled and taken in by money or magnificence, my friend

People without substance don't have their place in this world

Don't be fooled and taken in by money or magnificence, my friend

People without substance don't have their place in this world

• Artist:Barış Manço
• Album:1983