‘A Sad State Of Freedom\’ by Nazim Hikmet

The poem \\\’A sad state of freedom\\\’ was written by the legendary poet Nazim Hikmet Ran, an acclaimed Turkish poet who represented an era of civil unrest in his country.

 

 

You waste the attention of your eyes, 

the glittering labour of your hands, 

and knead the dough enough for dozens of loaves 

of which you\\\’ll taste not a morsel; 

you are free to slave for others– 

you are free to make the rich richer. 

 

The moment you\\\’re born 

they plant around you 

mills that grind lies 

lies to last you a lifetime. 

You keep thinking in your great freedom 

a finger on your temple 

free to have a free conscience. 

 

Your head bent as if half-cut from the nape, 

your arms long, hanging, 

your saunter about in your great freedom: 

you\\\’re free 

with the freedom of being unemployed. 

 

You love your country 

as the nearest, most precious thing to you. 

But one day, for example, 

they may endorse it over to America, 

and you, too, with your great freedom– 

you have the freedom to become an air-base. 

 

You may proclaim that one must live 

not as a tool, a number or a link 

but as a human being– 

then at once they handcuff your wrists. 

You are free to be arrested, imprisoned 

and even hanged. 

 

There\\\’s neither an iron, wooden 

nor a tulle curtain 

in your life; 

there\\\’s no need to choose freedom: 

you are free. 

But this kind of freedom 

is a sad affair under the stars.