Nâzım Hikmet - On Living (read by Chris Hedges)

All material cited below:

Poem:

Narration:

Music:
Jonsi & Alex - Indian Summer

Video (in order of first appearance):

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All copyrighted materials contained herein belong to their respective copyright holders, I do not claim ownership over any of these materials. I realize no profit, monetary or otherwise, can come from the exhibition of these videos.

[ahmetyuce]

Turkish native speaker here: the reason why he makes a metphor about "planting olive trees when you are 70 years old" is because the olive trees do not give olive before 10-15 years of growing.

Also if you wonder how it sounds in its own language and with a orchestra, type "Yaşamaya Dair-Nazım Hikmet Oratoryosu" and watch one of the videos. Great poet indeed!

[visioneit]

'' To live! Like a tree alone and free
Like a forest in brotherhood ''

Nazım Hikmet

[KonstanzArrens]

Some truly great poets of the twentieth century have been Communists: Yannis Ritsos (Greece), Nazim Hikmet (Turkey), Pablo Neruda (Chile), Vladimir Mayakovsky (Russia), Bertolt Brecht (Germany), Paul Eluard (France) and many others throughout the world. No great surprise really, since committed poets believe that all things (like language itself) belong equally to all human beings not just to certain elites. And of course poets are those preeminently amongst us that have the strength to dream - and to sing those dreams to us. It's what sets them apart, but not above, the many.

[billmonaghan]

I don’t know how Chris can read this poem without bursting into tears four or five times.

[gayrisafimillihasila]

He spend most of his life in prison and in exile but still he did not loose the joy of life till he had a heart attack in Russia . Rest in piece Nazım! I agree with you Nazım cuz, Life is not bitter as Buddha says or sour as conficious says. It is sweet. Every second of it. Life is not a failure as cioren thinks or mistake of nature as schopenhauer thinks. It is bliss. And we should appreciate it and live it in order to say I

[lethargic_cow]

"For the world must be loved this much, if you're going to say 'I lived'".
Words to live by...

[thomaswagner]

"Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
An anonymous ancient Greek saying.

[AxmedBahjad]

On Living
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. Nazam Hitzek

[emirakov]

to live
like a tree; single and free
and fraternally, as a forest.
NHR

[johnnyakyol]

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.
II

Let’s say we’re 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
for the latest newscast. . .
Let’s say we’re at the front—
for something worth fighting for, say.
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
we might fall on our face, dead.
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’ll still live with the outside,
with its people and animals, struggle and wind—
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
I mean, however and wherever we are,
we must live as if we will never die.
III

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”. . .

[sabaahsabuhas]

I'm so tried for Mr zero zero 😂😜🤐🙏🏼leave me alone always your name dustbin think this thank you 😜😜😜😜💪