Nazim Hikmet, _Human Landscapes from My Country_

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sat May 25 07:37:40 PDT 2002


Haydar Pasha Station, spring 1941,

3 p.m. On the steps, sun

fatigue

and confusion.

A man

stops on the steps,

thinking about something.

Thin. Scared. His nose is long and pointed, and his cheeks are pockmarked. The man on the steps,

Master Galip,

is famous for thinking strange thoughts: "If I could eat sugar wafers every day," he thought

when he was 5. "If I could go to school," he thought

at 10. "If I could leave Father's knife shop before the evening prayers," he thought

at 11. "If I could buy a pair of yellow shoes so the girls will look at me," he thought

at 15. "Why did Father close his knife shop? And the factory is nothing like his shop,"

he thought

at 16. "Will my pay go up?" he thought

at 20. "Father died at fifty -- will I die early, too?" he thought

when he was 21. "What if I get laid off?" he thought

at 22. "What if I get laid off?" he thought

at 23. "What if I get laid off?" he thought

at 24. And out of work from time to time, he thought "What if I get laid off?"

till he was 50. At 51 he thought: "I'm old --

I've lived one year longer than my father." Now he's 52. He's out of work. Stopped on the steps now,

he's lost

in the strangest of thoughts: "When will I die? Will I have a bed to die in?"

he thinks. His nose is long and pointed. His cheeks are pockmarked.

Spring comes to Haydar Pasha Station with the smell of fish in the sea

and bedbugs on the floor.

Baskets and saddlebags

go up and down.

stopping to rest

on the steps.

Excerpted from Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963), _Human Landscapes from My Country: An Epic Novel in Verse_ (Trans. Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk, NY: Persea Books, 2002).

FYI, <http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-0892552735-0>. -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>



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