Nazım Hikmet (Hilmi YAVUZ)
Original Version
Coordinator/ Human Translation
Machine Translation (Google Translate)
NÂZIM HİKMET
hüzün ki en çok yakışandır bize
belki de en çok anladığımız
biz ki sessiz ve yağız
bir yazın yumağını çözerek
ve ölümü bir kepenek gibi örtüp üstümüze
ovayı köpürte köpürte akan küheylan
ve günleri hoyrat bir mahmuz
ya da atlastan bir çarkıfelek
gibi döndüre döndüre
bir mapustan bir mapusa yollandığımız
biz, ey sürgünlerin nâzım’ı derken
tutkulu, sevecen ve yalnız
gerek acının teleğinden ve gerek
lâcivert gergefinde gecelerin
şiiri bir kuş gibi örerek
halkımız, gülün sesini savurup
bir türkünün kekiğinden tüterken
der ki, böyle yazılır sevdamız
hüzün ki en çok yakışandır bize
belki de en çok anladığımız
NAZIM HIKMET
Sorrow, which suits us the most,
Perhaps what we understand the best.
We, silent and strong,
Unraveling the tangle of a summer,
And covering death like a cloak over us,
The plain galloping, frothing and flowing,
And the days, a rough spur,
Or a roulette wheel made of satin,
Spinning and spinning,
Sent from one prisoner to another.
We, while saying “Nâzım of the exiles,”
Passionate, compassionate, and lonely,
From the thread of pain, and
From the navy blue embroidery of nights,
We weave poetry like a bird,
As our people, scattering the voice of the rose,
Rise from the thyme of a folk song,
And say, this is how our love is written.
Sorrow, which suits us the most,
Perhaps what we understand the best.
NAZIM HIKMET
sadness that suits us best
perhaps the most
we are silent and rainy
unraveling a summer ball
and covering death like a shutter
the steed foaming the plain
and his days are a rough spur
or a passion wheel from an atlas
spin it like
we were sent from a prisoner to a prisoner
When we say O Nâzım of the exiles
passionate, loving and lonely
both from the wire of pain and
in the navy blue shroud of the nights
knitting poetry like a bird
our people, scatter the laughter
while smoking the thyme of a folk song
says, this is how our love is written
sadness that suits us best
perhaps the most
Critical Reading and Analysis: Çıraklı “A Modest Proposal for Critical Reading”
Hilmi Yavuz is a prominent Turkish poet and essayist whose work often explores themes of melancholy, identity, and Turkish cultural heritage. In this poem, Yavuz reflects on the legacy of Nâzım Hikmet, one of the most influential poets of Turkish literature. Hikmet (1902–1963), a revolutionary and political figure, was known for his socialist ideals and spent much of his life in exile and prison. Yavuz's poem is an homage to Hikmet’s resilience, his poetry, and the collective experience of suffering and exile shared by the Turkish people.
The poem is set in a symbolic world of collective suffering and exile, where melancholy ("hüzün") is not only a personal emotion but a shared cultural experience. The imagery of a wild horse (küheylan) and the metaphor of being sent from one prison to another create a narrative of struggle, resistance, and resilience. The world in the poem is one where pain and exile are woven into the lives of the speaker and the people, but poetry and love ("sevdamız") remain powerful, binding forces.
Modernist Turkish Poetry
• Equilibrium: The shared experience of melancholy and suffering. • Disruption: The exile, oppression, and imprisonment that disrupt the natural course of life. • Recognition: The realization that this suffering is intrinsic to the identity of the people, especially through poetry and resistance. • Attempt to repair the damage: The expression of suffering and love through poetry, weaving it like a tapestry or song. • New equilibrium: The acceptance that melancholy is an inseparable part of their identity ("hüzün ki en çok yakışandır bize").
• Optimism: Optimistic Discourse with emotional resistance: hope indicated by “like news from the skies”, hope persists, symbolizing psychological resilience and the ability to live on • Neurosis: The neurotic speaker uses contemplation to overcome his/her existential crisis. It can be a strategy to overcome acute neurosis. • Melancholy: Life is compared to an epic sorrow, which envelops the speaker’s perception of reality.
• Optimistic view of life vs. Hopelessness • Mortality vs. Unfulfilled Dreams
