Nazim HikmetYAŞAMAYA DAİR
1
Yaşamak şakaya gelmez,
büyük bir ciddiyetle yaşayacaksın
bir sincap gibi meselâ,
yani, yaşamanın dışında ve ötesinde hiçbir şey beklemeden,
yani, bütün işin gücün yaşamak olacak.
Yaşamayı ciddiye alacaksın,
yani, o derecede, öylesine ki,
meselâ, kolların bağlı arkadan, sırtın duvarda,
yahut, kocaman gözlüklerin,
beyaz gömleğinle bir laboratuvarda
insanlar için ölebileceksin,
hem de yüzünü bile görmediğin insanlar için,
hem de hiç kimse seni buna zorlamamışken,
hem de en güzel, en gerçek şeyin
yaşamak olduğunu bildiğin halde.
Yani, öylesine ciddiye alacaksın ki yaşamayı,
yetmişinde bile, meselâ, zeytin dikeceksin,
hem de öyle çocuklara falan kalır diye değil,
ölmekten korktuğun halde ölüme inanmadığın için,
yaşamak, yani ağır bastığından.
1947
YAŞAMAYA DAİR
2
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
yüzükoyun kapaklanıp ölmek de mümkün.
Tuhaf bir hınçla bileceğiz bunu,
fakat yine de çıldırasıya merak edeceğiz
belki yıllarca sürecek olan savaşın sonunu.
Diyelim ki, hapisteyiz,
yaşımız da elliye yakın,
daha da on sekiz sene olsun açılmasına demir kapının.
Yine de dışarıyla beraber yaşayacağız,
insanları, hayvanları, kavgası ve rüzgârıyla
yani, duvarın arkasındaki dışarıyla.
Yani, nasıl ve nerde olursak olalım
hiç ölünmeyecekmiş gibi yaşanacak...
1948
YAŞAMAYA DAİR
3
Bu dünya soğuyacak,
yıldızların arasında bir yıldız,
hem de en ufacıklarından,
mavi kadifede bir yaldız zerresi yani,
yani, bu koskocaman dünyamız.
Bu dünya soğuyacak günün birinde,
hattâ bir buz yığını
yahut ölü bir bulut gibi de değil,
boş bir ceviz gibi yuvarlanacak
zifiri karanlıkta uçsuz bucaksız.
Şimdiden çekilecek acısı bunun,
duyulacak mahzunluğu şimdiden.
Böylesine sevilecek bu dünya
"Yaşadım" diyebilmen için...
Şubat 1948
ON LIVING
1
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 ölebileceksin,
in your white coat and safety glasses,
you can die for people -
even for people whose faces you have 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.
1947
2
Let's say we are seriously ill, need surgery -
which is to say we might not get up
s 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 have 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.
1947
2
Let's say we are seriously ill, need surgery -
which is to say we might not get up
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 if it's raining,
or still wait anxiously
Let's say we are at the front -
for something worth fighting for, say.
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
We'll know this with a curious anger,
but we'll still worry ourselves to death
about the outcome of the war, which could last years.
Let's say we're in prison
and close to fifty,
and we have eighteen more years, say,
before the iron doors will open.
we might fall on our face, dead.
for the latest newscast.
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
I mean, however and whereever we are,
we must live as if we will never die...
1948
3
This earth will grow cold, a star among stars
and one of the smallest,
a gilded mote on blue velvet -
I mean this, our great earth.
This earth will grow cold one day.
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
in pitch-black space.
You must grieve for this right now
- you have to feel this sorrow now -
for the world must be loved this much
if you're going to say "I lived"...
February 1848
tr. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk
Και κατιτις στα ελληνικα απ' τον Γιαννη Ριτσο:
Η ζωή δεν είναι παίξε-γέλασε
Πρέπει να τηνε πάρεις σοβαρά,
Όπως, να πούμε, κάνει ο σκίουρος,
Δίχως απ' όξω ή από πέρα να προσμένεις τίποτα.
Δε θα 'χεις άλλο πάρεξ μονάχα να ζεις.
Η ζωή δεν είναι παίξε-γέλασε
Πρέπει να τηνε πάρεις σοβαρά
Τόσο μα τόσο σοβαρά
Που έτσι, να πούμε, ακουμπισμένος σ' έναν τοίχο
με τα χέρια σου δεμένα
Ή μέσα στ' αργαστήρι
Με λευκή μπλούζα και μεγάλα ματογυάλια
Θε να πεθάνεις, για να ζήσουνε οι άνθρωποι,
Οι άνθρωποι που ποτέ δε θα 'χεις δει το πρόσωπό τους
και θα πεθάνεις ξέροντας καλά
Πως τίποτα πιο ωραίο, πως τίποτα πιο αληθινό απ' τη ζωή δεν είναι.
Πρέπει να τηνε πάρεις σοβαρά
Τόσο μα τόσο σοβαρά
Που θα φυτέυεις, σα να πούμε, ελιές ακόμα στα εβδομήντα σου
Όχι καθόλου για να μείνουν στα παιδιά σου
Μα έτσι γιατί το θάνατο δε θα τονε πιστεύεις
Όσο κι αν τον φοβάσαι
Μα έτσι γιατί η ζωή θε να βαραίνει πιότερο στη ζυγαριά.