1150. On Living (Part 1) - Nazim Hikmet

Translated from the Turkish by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Living is no laughing matter:

  you must live with great seriousness

like a squirrel, for example—

   I mean without looking for something beyond

and above living,

I mean living must be your

whole occupation.

Living is no laughing matter:

you must take it seriously,

so much so and to such a

degree

that, for example, your hands tied behind

your back,

your back to the wall,

or else in a laboratory

in your white coat and safety glasses,

you can die for people—

even for people whose faces you’ve never seen,

even though you know living

is the most real, the most

beautiful thing.

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.