Our eyes
are limpid
drops of water.
In each drop exists
a tiny sign
of our genius
which has given life to cold iron.
Our eyes
are limpid
drops of water
merged absolutely in the Ocean
that you could hardly recognize
the drop in a block of ice
in a boiling pan.
The masterpiece of these eyes
the fulfillment of their genius
the living iron.
In these eyes
filled with limpid
pure tears
had failed to emerge
from the infinite Ocean
if the strength
had dispersed,
we could never have mated
the dynamo with the turbine,
never have moved
those steel mountains in water
easily
as if made of hollow wood.
The masterpiece of these eyes
the fulfillment of their genius
of our unified labour
the living iron.
Translated by Taner Baybars
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Comments3JUST ME OR DOES THIS POEM SEEM OVERLY COMPLICATED? I REMEMBER READING IT YEARS AGO AND THINKING THE SAME. I JUST CAN'T CONNECT TO THIS. IT JUST SOUNDS TOO TECHNICAL AND TOO UNRELATABLE TO ME. POETRY, FOR ME, SHOULD SPAWN EMOTION AND TOUCH MY HEART. THIS JUST DOESN'T DO THAT FOR ME.
WOW, THIS POEM HIT DEEP! IT SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT OUR HUMAN CONDITION AND THE STRENGHT THAT LIES WITHIN US. TRULY POWERFUL! JUST WOW! TYPO EROR! JUST KIDDING.
There's a beguiling, almost magnetic quality to Nazim Hikmet's poetry. He equates the clarity of human vision to drops of water and brilliantly weaves in elements of industry and labour, effortlessly linking the organic to the manufactured. His play on the ethereal and mundane aspects of existence speaks deeply of our duality as humans. There's a beautiful fusion of science and emotion that leaves you feeling both thoughtful and touched in a way only true poetry can. It's deeply thoughtful and incredibly moving. I'm left in awe every time I read his work.