National Poems Book 2014 | Page 21

Yani, öylesine ciddiye almalısın ki yaşamayı,

Yetmişinde bile, mesela, zeytin dikeceksin,

Hem de öyle çocuklara falan kalır diye değil,

Ölmekten korktuğun halde ölüme inanmadığın için,

Yaşamak, yani ağır bastığından.

"""'''''

Diyelim ki, ağır ameliyatlık hastayız,

Yani beyaz masadan bir daha kalkmamak ihtimali de var

Duymamak mümkün değilse de biraz erken gitmenin kederini

Biz yine de güleceğiz anlatılan bektaşi fıkrasına

Hava yağmurlu mu, diye bakacağız pencereden

Yahut da yine sabırsızlıkla bekleyeceğiz en son ajans haberlerini

Diyelim ki, dövüşülmeye değer bir şeyler için, diyelim ki, cephedeyiz

Daha orda ilk hücumda, daha o gün.

I mean, you must take living so seriously

That even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees

and not for your children, either,

But because although you fear death you don't believe it,

Because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

"""'''''

Let's say you're seriously ill, need surgery,

Which is to say we might not get from the white table.

Even though it's impossible not to feel sad about going a little too soon,

we'll still laugh at the jokes being told,

We'll look out the window to see it's raining,

Or still wait anxiously for the latest newscast

Let's say we're at the front-- for something worth fighting for, say.

There, in the first offensive, on that very day,

Few lines about

(15 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet ,was aTurkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoirist. He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements".Described as a "romantic communist" and "romantic revolutionary",he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.

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