From a poem by Nazim Hikmet
ON LIVING
I
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…
Nazim Hikmet
Feb 1948
Trans. Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk
Found by clicking on a link in a 2005 post on the literary blog The Middle Stage.
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