<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">On Living</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> I</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Living is no laughing matter:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> you must live with great seriousness</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> like a squirrel, for example --</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> I mean living must be your whole occupation.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Living is no laughing matter:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> you must take it seriously,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> so much so and to such a degree</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> your back to the wall,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> or else in a laboratory</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> in your white coat and safety glasses,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> you can die for people--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> even for people whose faces you've never seen,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> even though you know living</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> is the most real, the most beautiful thing.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">I mean, you must take living so seriously</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> and not for your children, either,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> but because although you fear death you don't believe it,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> because living, I mean, weighs heavier.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> II</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Let's say we're seriously ill, need surgery--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">which is to say we might not get up</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> from the white table.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Even though it's impossible not to feel sad</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> about going a little too soon,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">we'll still laugh at the jokes being told,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">we'll look out the window to see if it's raining,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">or still wait anxiously</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> for the latest newscast...</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Let's say we're at the front--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> for something worth fighting for, say.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">There, in the first offensive, on that very day,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> we might fall on our face dead.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">We'll know this with a curious anger,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> but we'll still worry ourselves to death</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> about the outcome of the war, which could last years.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Let's say we're in prison</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">and close to fifty,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">and we have eighteen more years, say,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> before the iron doors will open.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">We'll still live with the outside,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">with its people and animals, struggle and wind--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> I mean with the outside beyond the walls.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">I mean, however and wherever we are,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> we must live as if we will never die.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> III</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">This earth will grow cold,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">a star among stars</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> and one of the smallest,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">a gilded mote on blue velvet--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">I mean this, our great earth.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">This earth will grow cold one day,</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">not like a block of ice</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">or a dead cloud even</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">but like an empty walnut it will roll along</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> in pitch-black space...</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; min-height: 19px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">You must grieve for this right now</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">--you have to feel this sorrow now--</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">for the world must be loved this much</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"> if you're going to say "I lived..."</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> - Nazim Hikmet</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><img alt="image.tiff" id="79ace250-82f3-4327-897a-d645d866f22f" height="18" width="914" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:0AAE2530-2FC9-45A9-AF03-D8CEA086A8E8"></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Courier; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="3">Nazim Hikmet was arrested and sentenced to 28 yrs in prison on the grounds that military cadets were reading his poems, particularly the Epic of Sheik Bedreddin 1936 about the 15th c. peasant rebellion against Ottoman rule. It was the last of his books to appear in Turkey during his lifetime.</font></div><div><br></div></body></html>