Quote of the Week- Nazim Hikmet

Today, we have two quotes from perhaps my two favorite poets on our two respective blogs. Amazingly enough, the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963) and the great African-American poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) were born a mere two weeks apart.

Hikmet was born on Jan. 17, 1902, in what is now Salonika, Greece. Due to his communist beliefs, he lived much of his later life in Russia and he is buried in Moscow's famous Novodevichy Cemetery, where one can also see the tombstone of Boris Yeltsin.

Hughes was born on Feb. 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He passed away in New York where he had resided for much of his adult life.

Hikmet's life is amazing for many reasons, and it would substantially more time than we have here to go into all the details. But, we can show the following ironies about his life:

-Though he is Turkey's best-known poet, Hikmet was not only born in what is now Greece and he died in Russia, but he also had Polish ancestery.

-Since, he is now amazingly enough considered Turkey's National Poet, he was posthumously given back his Turkish citizenship in 2009 which had been revoked during the time of his political activies.

-Joan Baez, of all people, sang a song version of his poem "Nazim Turkusu" in Turkish!

-Hikmet's poem "The Epic War of Independence" is considered to be a patriotic masterpiece which is even revered by right-wing Turkish nationalists today!

Here is his quote:

"Living is no laughing matter: you must live with great seriousness like a squirel for example_ I mean without looking for something beyond and above living, I mean you must be your whole occupation."