Life

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.


Nazim Hikmet