Turkish Poems- TURCKE SIIR

Nazim Hikmet (RAN)
(1902, Salonica - June 3, 1963, Moscow)

Poet, playwright, novelist, memoirist

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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.

Yasamak sakaya gelmez,

buyuk bir ciddiyetle yasayacaksin

bir sincap gibi mesela,

yani, yasamanin disinda ve otesinde hicbir sey beklemeden,

yani butun isin gucun yasamak olacak.

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DESTINY

 It's torturing me:
I am an accountant
but I can't do Maths.
My favourite food is Prophet's Passion Aubergines -
they don't agree with me,
I know a girl with freckles,
I love her,
she doesn't love me.

OKTAY RIFAT

Translated by.  Richard McKane

(Voices of Memory: Selected Poems of Oktay Rifat,
 Translated by. Ruth Christie ve Richard McKane
  Istanbul, Yapi Kredi Yayinlari: Rockingham Press, 1993)